


As Fate Would Have It

by ElfMaidenOfLight



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Multi-prompt fic, Prompt Fic, Romance, gingerrosevss, microfic collection, tweetfics, various prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:20:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25153084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElfMaidenOfLight/pseuds/ElfMaidenOfLight
Summary: A collection of microfics and tweetfics mostly based on the Reylomicrofic Hub (@reylomicrofics) prompts. Most will be standalone, but some may be connected.Will be updated periodically. Each can be found separately on twitter as they're released.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico
Comments: 23
Kudos: 69





	1. June 2020

~*~

Aglow

“Remind me never to do that again.” 

Hux looked up from his datapad to see the two women coming to a stop within earshot: Rose & the scavenger. Both were breathing heavy, dressed in warm-weather exercise fatigues, looking like they’d both just finished a run. 

The scavenger tossed back her head, grinning, as Rose bent at the waist, hands in her knees. 

“You kept up with me for a good long while,” the Jedi said. “Good job!” 

Rose snorted. 

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to kill me!”

Both women laughed, and Rose stood back up to plant her hands on her hips, huffing with a smile, her face bathed in sunlight. She was aglow from exertion and pink in the apples of her cheeks; a dewy sheen of sweat gracing her brow. Some of her hair had come undone...

Hux hadn’t realized he’d been staring, caught by the sight of her, lips parted in quiet awe, datapad long forgotten... until Rose looked over, and caught his eye.

* * *

Grind 

"Here you are," Rose said, placing the steaming mug of tea down before him, setting it on the metal table with a soft clunk.

"I don't need to be served like some sort of invalid," Hux sneered, eyes flickering up from the admittedly, surprisingly good-smelling herbal brew.

She gave him a tilted, incredulous look as she sat across from him.

"Oh, I know. You were just so absorbed in your reading," she shrugged, burying herself in her caf.

Hux frowned, unaccustomed to such casual, non-provisional kindness. Her unrelenting decency was a slow, abrasive grind against the surly front he was attempting to maintain, but Hux had to concede, it was a battle he was slowly losing...

"Thank you, Commander," he muttered.

Rose smiled.

"No problem." 

* * *

Marvel

"Try it again!"

There was a beat of silence from the cockpit before the old strarship issued a high-pitched grinding noise, like a roll of thunder chewing up metal.

"Of course... Okay, turn it off!" Rose hollered, hand cupped to her mouth, the other waiving in the air.

The ship whined as it powered down, Rose dropping to the ground to worm her way under the open panel beneath the fuselage.

"Perhaps it is too ancient to fix as easily as you claim," came a lofty voice from the open hatch near the cockpit.

"Blah, blah, blah," Rose's muffled snark echoed back from under the belly of the ship. Her head popped back out, face streaked with grease, tilting up to look at the infuriating man leaning out and over to peer down at her. "I swapped the fuses. Try it now."

Hux wore a dubious expression. "Rearranging fuses is hardly the appropriate solution to--"

"Would you just try it?!" She snapped, exasperated, gesticulating with the hand that held her spanner.

Hux gave her a pinched, annoyed expression, but ducked back inside.

Moments later, there came the distinct sound of the starter catching, the little ship grumbling to life like a hungry, growling animal.

"Yes!" Rose pumped her fist, giving Hux a wild grin as he appeared at the hatch once again, marveling down at her.

"It worked," he muttered, clearly taken aback.

"See?" Rose's grin turned smug. "I told you."

* * *

(moodboard by @curiousniffin)

Rose watches a ship’s streaking afterburners slash gold across the sunset sky, waves lapping gently against the sand under her bare feet.

“You miss it.”

His voice, clipped in that shiver-sharp accent, makes her turn.

“Miss it?”

“Out there,” Hux clarifies, watching her with a searching look in his glass-green eyes. “Space. Freedom.”

Rose plants a hand on her hip, eyebrow cocked.

“You think I regret this? Staying planetside?”

His lips draw into a thin line, gaze darting down.

Rose tuts the back of her tongue, reaching out to fist her hands in his jacket, hauling him down.

She’s so near, that when she speaks, he can feel her words on his mouth. In her eyes, he sees starfire.

“Space might have been freedom,” she mutters as his touch slides up her arms; she smells the ocean, engine grease, and him, “but it wasn’t home.”

* * *

Time

Her heart is trying to strangle her.

While the noise of the other's jubilation continues outside, Rose is tucked away in the back of the cavern-turned-comms room, clutching the bulky receiver and watching the screen and its blinking signal bars.

"Please," she whispers into the quiet; to the stars. "Please, please, please."

She waits, and time drags on for she doesn't know how long.

Suddenly, a crackle pierces the silence, along with a voice: weak, but very much alive.

_"Commander."_

Relief floods her so fast it makes her head spin. Makes her body feel faint.

Rose has to swallow a few times before her shaking fingers can depress the button on the side of the radio and she can speak.

“You're alive," she whispers, hoarse.

_"More or less,"_ comes his voice, dry with tired humor.

Rose laugh-sobs, rubbing her free hand over her face as she asks, "Where are you?"

_"I will upload my coordinates over our secure channel."_

She's already on her feet before he's done speaking.

"I'll come get you."

She hurries around the terminals towards the hanger, breathless.

_"Comman- Rose."_

There is a note in his voice that makes her stop in her tracks, heart tumbling in her chest. If she didn't know any better, she'd say he sounds vulnerable; raw.

"Yes?"

There's a pregnant pause before--

_"Thank you."_

* * *

La Isla Mágica: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xVExQhXuyY](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D0xVExQhXuyY&t=YTRlMzkyYWZiYTlkMjdiODNkMjdlMmI5NWFiZmNlMWNmNThiOWQ1OSxkZjk5NmZiNTBkMGU1OWNjZTUwYzhmZjUxMTUxZDQ0NDg3YjhhZGFm)

Hux pushes back the tarp over the doorway with one hand, ducking his head to descend the revealed staircase.

Below, as he draws closer and closer toward the bottom, he begins to hear the cacophony of noise in which Rose somehow manages to focus.

Clicking, re-purposed gears whirl on cobbled-together shelves, set into perpetual motion by wire-hung counterweights.

Mechanisms, of all kinds, tick away, telling the time on whichever planet they're calibrated to or denoting the surrounding humidity or revealing the alignment of the nearby planets, all in staccato notes and twangs of timing belts.

He has to duck under tiny, scrap metal renditions of starships, hung too low for him to pass under without pause, but just high enough for his rather petite partner, so he doesn't complain.

Way in the back of the workshop there comes the sharp buzzing snap of a handheld welding torch and the tinkling of mechanics tools and Rose's toe tapping to keep time with some unknown, primal, heart-pumping beat in her head.

As he draws near, he sees the white curl of the incense she's burning, adding a heady, almost illicit atmosphere to the underground space; like he's stumbled upon some seedy backroom den of iniquity.

"I've brought you something," he quips, far enough away so she doesn't startle.

Rose twirls around on her swivel stool, one eye blown extra large from the magnifying lens hanging over it.

She grins, first at him, then at the parcel tucked under his arm, and Hux has to fight a smile at the sight.

* * *

Form

They end up near the spaceport, so when silence descends between them as they survey the state of their temporary safe house, all Rose can hear is the distant rumblings of engines and thrusters as the sparsely-furnished flat rattles like it’s going to fall apart.

“More of a safe _room_ than a safe _house_ , wouldn’t you say?” Hux drawls with thin, dry humor, lip curling at the thin layer of dust on nearly every surface.

Rose sighs, letting her bag drop onto the small, single cot.

She’ll admit, the place is tiny. Just a little four-walled cubby with a rickety bed and a thin, plastoid partition between the single sonic wash basin and the rest of the room. She didn’t want to think about what the communal fresher down the hall looked like.

“Let’s just get some rest,” she says, moving to sit on the cot. “We head out tomorrow.”

His voice slithers with disdain as he replies, “Of course. _Commander_.”

Rose throws him a look, but Hux has already taken his bag and shuffled off behind the partition that hides the sink.

They’re both covered in days of grime, so it would make sense for him to change, only... as Rose fishes out her datapad to check for new, encrypted messages, she notices how the room’s wall sconces serve as backlight against the thin plastoid screen.

There, separated by a wall so insubstantial it might as well have been flimsy, she can see the entire outline of Hux’s form as he strips himself of his dirty clothes.

She shouldn’t look- she shouldn’t *want to*- but in that moment all Rose sees is the hard outline of his shoulders and the sleek definition of his body’s profile.

She really, really should look away.

But she doesn’t


	2. July 2020

Heat

“C’mon,” she grins, yanking off her boots. His eyes dart away, then back, one of his hands alighting on the top button of his shirt, the other balled into a fist at his side. Rose shimmies off her pants, tossing them onto the nearby rocks, peeling off her shirt that’s soaked in sweat.

The bravery she feels, standing there with him gazing at her nearly naked form, does not extend to eye-contact, so instead, she turns and immediately plunges into the secluded, forest pool.

With a whooshing rush, the cold water tingles as it closes over her head, flooding away the heat of the day.

Delighting in the burn of her held breath for a moment, Rose eventually surfaces, and turns back around, treading water, eyeing Hux as he stands there at the bank’s edge.

“Feels pretty good,” she purrs, crooking her finger at him. “Come join me.”

Something in his gaze changes, a spark catching tinder, and he beings to unbutton his shirt.

* * *

Juice

Rose hides her nerves by fluffing her hair forward, shielding her face in what she hopes looks like demure femininity and not fear; fear that someone is going to recognize her, even as her hair is uncharacteristically tumbling down over her shoulders and her face is painted in the kohl Kaydel's let her use.

Not to mention this ridiculous getup...

When a server pushes a flute of something sparkling & plum-colored into her hand, she takes it, sipping the liquid eagerly as her eyes roam over the gala's attendees.

Their informant had hinted at big news dropping that night, and even if she didn't know the spy's identity, his information had been reliable so far. Otherwise, Rose wouldn't have felt nearly as brave in such a plunging neckline, high-hipped slit, and tilting heels.

_This better be worth it,_ she thinks, rolling the sweet alcohol over her tongue, her mouth puckering at the taste; tart like berry juice.

The revelry is still in its the cocktail phase, pre-business. Rose wonders absently if the spy is here; if she'd recognize him.

Turning on the toe of her shoe, she spins a little more forcefully than she intends, and her arm connects with someone behind her. The force sloshes her drink dangerously up the side of the glass. Reflexively, a gloved hand shoots out to curl around her wrist, steadying her.

The alcohol curls like a lazy wave up against the lip of the stemware, but does not spill.

"Thanks," Rose mutters, face nearly as red as her dress, embarrassed from her misstep and from the feel of warm, soft leather on her skin.

As she rounds her gaze on whoever she's collided with, her heart freezes cold as she finds herself pinned by the pale green gaze of a man she never thought she'd see again.

Recognition coalesces over General Hux's sharp features. Rose watches as confusion, recognition, anger, and something unrecognizable, flit so fast over his pale, eerily-handsome face; so fast it makes her dizzy.

"You," he breathes, fingers constricting. His voice does not shake with rage as she expects. Rather, he sighs out the word as if she's stepped out of some dream he's had to materialize before him.

* * *

Sand

The dunes loom large in the dark like great alien beasts, rounded silver backs bathed in moonlight.

As always, Rose isn’t sure who moves first. She pulls Hux down the same moment he presses her back, their limbs tangling, desperate as they fall together.

They don’t speak. They never do. Not since disgust and intrigue tipped into whatever new territory they’ve blindly, against all good judgement, now find themselves in.

His strained, short gasps of breath mix with her needy whimpers as he moves over, around, inside her; touching so deep that he reaches her heart. A place she’s always hoped to guard against him breaching. But she can’t.

Rose knows she can never keep him.

That their deceit will most likely end with both them dead, but when he kisses her, like she’s the only good thing he’s ever had in his whole miserable life- and maybe she is- Rose can’t help but thread her fingers into his hair and cleave him to her body, hoping things will be different. The moan Hux makes breaks the heart he stole.

Later, when the real state of the galaxy creeps back in and they part until their next meeting, Hux lingers; takes her face in both his hands and kisses her deep and slow. Rose turns back to her ship before he can see the look on her face.

Inside, watching his shuttle ascend the dark sky, Rose brushes sand from the back of her jacket, tiny shining grains like far-flung stars scattering about the floor.

* * *

Fresh

"You're a hard man to find, Armitage."

Hux's head jerks up at the whispered voice, squinting in the dark of his jail cell; past the old, rusted bars to the cloaked figure standing in the hallway.

Stars, he was losing his touch. He hadn't even heard them sneak up.

Slowly, he stands.

"Who are you?" he asks quietly, voice drawn low so as not to disturb the guards at the other end of the hallway.

The figure takes a step forward, moonlight from the cell's window slanting across their hooded face.

Hux freezes, disbelief thundering through him.

Rose grins in the dark as she twirls a keycard in her nimble fingers.

"Someone here to rescue you."

Before he can issue any sort of retort, she swipes the card against the lock, changing the indicator light from red to green. The door swings open, and she tosses him a second cloak.

"Come on," she hisses when he doesn't move, darting in to take his hand, pulling him out into the hallway and down the dark corridor.

"Why are you doing this?" He hisses, following her as she leads them through the prison's maze. Rose squeezes his hand, and the feeling wraps itself around his heart.

"Because you helped us," Rose whispers back, glancing over her shoulder.

To his surprise, she looks relieved; flushed and happy to see him still alive and breathing. Hux isn't sure he deserves such a beautiful emotion to show so plainly on her pretty face.

"Because," she continues, as they exit through a service door and find that blasted freighter waiting for them down below, "you deserve a fresh start, just like the rest of us."

* * *

Buzzing

"I-mm I- I think that drink was, uhm, laced with something," Rose mumbles, leaning heavily on the man at her side, her mission partner, as he practically carries her down the the gaudy hotel hallway back to her room.

Hux snorts, hoisting her against him as her soft body lists into his.

"Perhaps. Either that or you are an insufferable lightweight."

Rose blows a raspberry with her mouth, dismissing his words.

"Ss'upid Canto Bight," she grumbles as he fishes out a room card, "I fuck'n, hn- hate this place."

Inside, her room is blessedly dark and cold. Hux leads her gently over to sit on the bed, which she does, falling onto the top sheet in a mess of ruffles.

Hux retreats, probably to get her water, as Rose tries to undo the back of her dress. But the room keeps spinning and her mind keeps buzzing. Her eyes hurt from all the glitz and from the image of Hux in his sharp, black suit forever burned into the back of her eyelids. The catch of her dress keeps slipping out of her wobbly fingers.

“Huux,” she whines as he reappears from the fresher, flopping over onto her side so he can reach the back of the dress. “Help.”

He hesitates, just for a moment, before setting the cup down and stalking closer. Rose hates the way his touch makes her shiver; how the sound of the zipper slowly rolling down and the softness of his fingers on her skin makes her heart jump and her heat pool. They’re allies now, but he’s still the same man who--

“You’re _truly_ insufferable, Tico,” he whispers quietly, voice low and piercing.

She makes a inebriated, halfhearted sound.

Eventually, the dress is loose enough for her to shimmy out of, sliding up the bed to shuffle under the sheets. When she steals a glance at Hux, he’s politely looking away, but that doesn’t mean she misses the fierce blush high on his cutting cheekbone.

He sets her dress aside and gives her water, but when he gets up to return to his own room, the one next to hers, she reaches out and snags his sleeve, yanking slightly.

When she catches his eye, she knows he see it: lust. Hux grits his jaw, gaze darting away.

"Rose, I- you're drugged, Rose. I-"

"Just stay then," she whispers, before the rest of her words gets stuck in her throat.

He looks dubious

"Please,” she tries, unsure of why the feeling of him leaving fills her with worry; how the prospect of him staying makes her feel safer than it should.

"Just stay," she pleads, “just for a little while.”

A pause, and then he relents, almost too willing to acquiesce.

As she drifts off to sleep, lulled by his weight dipping the mattress and by the slow cadence of his breathing, Rose almost feels him reach out, tenderly brushing stray locks of hair from her forehead.

* * *

Audio Prompt: https://t.co/SHSpljA8LE?amp=1

Rose groans as his fingers dig in and he presses his weight into her from behind. He hits a particularly sensitive spot and her back bends like a bow. 

“Mmn,” she mumbles- moans- and it would be more embarrassing if it didn’t feel so damn good. 

“Oh yeah, right there,” she sighs, going boneless as he does it again. 

“Insatiable,” Hux mutters, with no small amount of affection. 

Rose closes her eyes against the sun reflecting off the ocean, burying her face in her crossed arms resting over the back of the chair. 

Hux continues to dig a knuckle up into the knot against the base of her neck.

“You’re posture needs correcting,” he clips, broad, warm hands all over her bare back as he massages. “You do know your muscles are tense because you keep bending over that ridiculously ill-proportioned workbench for hours on end.” 

“I dunno.” Rose’s voice is muffled and syrupy-slow. “This is sort of making me wish I did it more often.” 

Hux pauses, the heels of his palms on either side under her shoulder blades. His fingers are so long that they curl slightly around her rib cage, dangerously close to the underside of her breasts. 

“Are you under the impression that I need a -reason- to touch you?” He’s shifted forward, his voice a whisper, tickling the back of her ear and erupting goosebumps all over her skin. 

“Maybe.” she shifts slightly, so close she can almost feel the breath in his chest as he inhales. “We’ll have to run some tests.” 

* * *

Trip

In the mere seconds she had before the power went out again, Rose watched as the screen before her read ‘Transmission Successful’ before the terminal blinked off.

Once again she was plunged into darkness; save, of course, for the twinkling stars outside the ship’s wide viewport.

She let out a frustrated sigh, massaging her temples as the sound of a control panel clanging closed echoed from the back of the ship, accompanied soon after by approaching footfalls.

“The fuel-cell breaker,” she asked, turning in her seat. “Did it trip again?”

Where he stood in the cockpit doorway, Hux gave her one raised eyebrow, gesturing around the dark cabin.

“Whatever gave you that idea,” he replied dryly.

Rose groaned, standing from the pilot’s chair, shooing Hux out of the way so she could move around to sit on the curved, padded seat fixed around the central cabin’s table.

“Whatever ion emitter you’ve rigged into this ship is simply too much for the main circuit controls to handle,” Hux continued, sinking elegantly into a seat across from her, lounging back like it were an armchair in his personal quarters, one arm slung across the backrest . The tiny yellow emergency lights on the ceiling made his hair shine almost gold, playing with the shadows on his face. He looked remarkably calm; lurking danger hidden just bellow his cold exterior. At least for now, he didn’t look too concerned at their current predicament.

Rose glanced away.

“Well, I was able to get a message out to Poe. They’ll send a rescue party, but it might be a few hours.” She gave him a rueful smile. “Guess we’ll be stuck like this for a while”

The corner of his mouth pulled up slightly.

“I could think of worse companionship.”

Her heart jumped despite herself. “Oh yeah?”

“At least you can supply moderately intelligently conversation.”

Rose scoffed, trying to hide her grin. “Moderately?! Well, I guess you’re just _moderately_ a pain in the ass then.”

Hux snorted, fingers drawing absent little circles on the cushion fabric. Rose couldn’t help but stare.

Clearing her throat, she tried to steer her focus back into neutral territory, but it was suddenly proving to be a bit difficult.

* * *

Swell

“Hey. Hey! Don’t you fall asleep on me, you smarmy son of a bitch. I’m not done with you yet.” Rose patted the General’s cheek none too gently as the ship-wide alarm blared overhead

This man, who’d once looked so cocksure standing over her with his air of superiority, was now a mess. The wound in his leg had begun to weep through the bandages, and if he didn’t get medical attention for that blaster shot...

A strange swell of panic threatened to overtake her. And it made her mad.

Rose shouldn’t care. Hux was evil. But he had supplied the Resistance with vital intel, an invaluable boon despite his selfish reasons. And sometimes, when she passed him in the corridor during her undercover mission, she thought he looked... sad; tired and worry-worn.

It had tugged at her natural compassion.

Rose slapped him again, and Hux roused with a heavy groan, staring at her with pain-glazed eyes.

“M-Major?”

“Come on, Hux, we gotta go,” Rose said, pulling him up where’d he’d slumped against the wall.

“It’s no use,” he muttered, trying to push her off. “There’s nowhere to run to. It’s finished. Leave me, Major.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Why are you always so dramatic? We’re getting out of here. I have...friends.”

Something in her tone must have registered. Hux frowned, wincing slightly.

“Who are you?”

“Commander Rose Tico,” she said firmly, meeting his gaze. “Of the Resistance.”

To her surprise, Hux laughed weakly.

“Impossible,” he muttered.

Rose gave him an unimpressed look as she fished out her necklace from her uniform. The ore caught the light, and Hux’s attention.

“There now, General. Does that _bring back memories_?”

Recognition and rage twisted his features, but it was soon drowned out by pain as Rose hoisted him to his feet. His agonizing hiss was in her ear from where he leaned against her.

“Now,” Rose said, bearing some of the weight off his injured leg. “If you want to live long enough to get revenge on Pryde, we’re going to have to cooperate. Which way do we go?”

Hux hesitated a moment, perhaps weighing his options, before he nodded down the corridor.

* * *

Watermelon: "water, melon"

They're on their way back to base, trudging through the heady, tropical undergrowth after re-calibrating the satellite relay for the umpteenth time. It was hot, made doubly-so by the planet's natural humidity; Hux could feel his entire back sticking to his shirt. Disgusting.

"I need a break," Rose sighed, wiping sweat from her brow, delightfully pink in the cheeks and eyelids heavy from exertion. This image of her did not help cool the recent, untoward feelings Hux had found himself grappling with as of late.

They paused for a few minutes under a wide-leafed tree before Rose let out a titter of delight, pointing up into the branches. Looking skyward, Hux noticed the small, pale green fruits hanging there.

"Ooh," Rose said, motioning him over, "Give me a boost!"

Hux scoffed even as he acquiesced, bending and lacing his fingers for her heel.

"They're probably poison," he said with a grunt, hoisting Rose up as she stretched, his eyes drawn up every curve and line of her body as his head tilted back.

"They are _not_ ,” she griped, plucking one of the fruits and tensing to jump down from the perch he'd made her with his hands.

Hux hadn't expected her sudden movement, so when she sprung backwards, he immediately moved to catch what he assumed was an unintentional fall.

Gripping her by the waist, his hands slowed her descent, his touch dragging up her body and coming to a rest against her ribcage as she plopped back down onto the forest floor before him. He retracted his touch immediately, face burning, but Rose paid his fluster no mind.

She brought the oval-shaped fruit to her lips, biting down with vigor. Hux heard the taunt snap of the melon's skin break, and he was helpless to watch as the juice inside coated her mouth and chin. She brought the fruit away as she chewed, the smeared nectar clear like water, but shining and more viscous.

Hux swallowed compulsively as a look of contentment settled over Rose's features.

"Mmm," she sighed, blinking slowly at him.

Before the voice of his propriety could stop him, Hux took her by the arm, pulling her close to capture her lips in a kiss. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was her naked astonishment, and then she was kissing him back, hard, her tongue invading his mouth, flooding him with the sweet, fresh taste of fruit.

* * *

Storm

[a loose continuation of Swell]

He is swimming through a storm of fire. It consumes him, ripples through him, robbing him of sight and breath. The world has exploded.

Pinned there, amid the wreckage, he fights the inevitable and loses ground.

After what feels like a whole, wasted lifetime later, when his body is all but wrung out and his soul has shrunk down into a single, aching, pulse, he gives himself over into hell. It drags him down into its churning, baptismal core. He sleeps. Extinguished; dead.

And yet-

a millennia later, sound lances through his dark tomb.

"His fever's broken."

"Oh stars," a voice, God, sighs in relief, fluttering soft like a caress. "Thank goodness."

Dull pain begins to throb once more and he struggles. He cannot bear to do this again. It will destroy him.

Hux tries to fight, but it's all so heavy. Instead of a wrenching, tearing cry, he can only groan. Instead of lashing out, his hand twitches weakly against his chest.

"Oh," God gasps, surprised. "Hux?" The overhead lights of the medbay blind him. He winces, grimacing, but the light is soon eclipsed by a broad shadow. His eyes slowly focus, shape and color coalescing into form, and then he sees _her_ leaning over him.

“Major?” He doesn’t recognize his own voice.

“Commander,” she corrects with a warm smile.

Oh yes...

Commander Tico, he remembers, with piercing, painful clarity.

Commander Rose Tico of the Resistance.

Rage and fear and shame beg to broil, his jaw clenching, snarling, but it all stutters out as he feels her cool hand rest against his cheek. The touch surprises him.

Unconsciously, he leans into her palm, mollified.

“Shh," Rose says, a kindness in her eyes he does not deserve. "You’re safe now.”

Safe. The word burrows into his chest and sinks in its barbed roots, painful and anchoring.

"Thank you," he mutters, his throat constricted tight and his voice rough from lack of use.

She smiles, warm gaze pinched with soft concern, and the ache in his chest and in his leg redoubles. He grunts, tensing.

"Don't struggle," she says, her hand soothing over his cheek. "Rest."

Like a spell, he acquiesces, relaxing as she pulls away, even as he wants to chase the feeling of her touch.

"Save your strength," she adds, stepping back to stand beside his bed. "You've got a long recovery ahead of you."

* * *

Ambrosia

“That input’s wrong.”

Hux was startled out of his work by a hand on back of his chair and an arm reaching over his shoulder to tap on the terminal screen before him. Rose dragged her finger along one of the lines of code.

Hux stiffened at her close proximity, but he endeavored to conceal his discomfort in the coolness of his voice.

“I assure you, there is nothing amiss.”

“Well, no,” Rose considered, “but you could be using a more optimal combination. Here.”

With that, she took the hand off the back of his chair only to plant it on the desk before him, leaning over his arm even further to reach the controls.

Hux inhaled sharply. This close, he could see her little freckles, and smell the natural, heady scent of her mixed with the perfume oil she’d dabbed behind her ear. A faint, bright floral ambrosia; apple perhaps, and honeysuckle.

To his utter surprise, it tugged within him at a non-memory.

A void, where a memory should have been.

A name he did not know.

Sudden, unexpected emotion rose in the back of his throat, and he briefly wondered: were possible to feel nostalgia for a thing you cannot remember?

His expression must have been stricken, for when Rose glanced sideways at him, she paused, looking worried.

“Hux?” She questioned, coming around his chair, angling towards him.

He swallowed, trying to dismiss her with a word, but he was so swept up in the sweet, almost-recollection, pacing there at the edge of his mind but never being known, that he could not speak.

“Are you alright?” Rose added, and when she reached out a hand to place it there upon his shoulder, Hux found he did not have the fortitude to shake her off. He could only clench his jaw against the ghosts within, and drag his gaze up to meet her soft, brown eyes. 

* * *

Cone

As the fingers of his pale hand unfurled, Rose tipped forward on the balls of her feet to get a good look at the little, russet-colored object revealed to be resting in his palm. "

You... you can really eat this?" Rose reached forward, but Hux stilled her hand with a gentle hold on her fingers.

His voice was as warm as his touch.

"Be careful," he whispered, like it were a secret just for her, "it has spines."

Rose nodded, feeling a bit of heat creep up her neck as he released her and she plucked the small cone up by its stem.

"Contains enough protein to keep a grown man sated for an entire day," Hux explained, as Rose turned the alien bundle of seeds over and over.

"If you can remove all the prickly bits," she muttered.

"Yes," he said, sounding pleased, "that is correct."

She gave him a squinted, searching look. "How do you know so much about plants, Hux? Didn't you live most of your life in space?"

"Ah, yes, well, I read quite a bit as a child," he replied, whispered really; they were standing so close. "Knowledge is power and all that," he added.

Rose hummed, nodding. "At least now you get to put all that power to /good/ use, huh?"

The corner of Hux's mouth pulled up into a smile.

"Quite right, Rose."

* * *

Sweat

They hadn’t even bothered with undressing; it all seemed like too much of a waste of time. Especially when they’d been arguing, flirting, dancing around each other all week long, ending up alone together in the transport’s cockpit late one night, clocking extra hours to finish repairs.

The repairs had been completed, but their disagreement over the ship’s new start-up programming had devolved into an angry, hissing, push-pull of egos, then hands, and then Hux was backing her up against the flight controls as she pulled him down on top of her and stuck her tongue down his throat and, well…

They’d started wrestling immediately for dominance, neither ceding ground as little ship filled with the sounds of their panting, their lips slotting and peeling apart, Rose’s moan as Hux took the momentary upper-hand and pinned her, kissing her so deep it felt like he was reaching down into her heart with every lap of his tongue.

Rose had him for a moment, too, yanking his hair and earning a pleasing grunt of pain from him. She tried to pivot them, but she’d been a fool to think even her unrelenting spitfire was going to win out over his superior muscle mass.

A thrill went through her as he caught her arms, spun her around, and pinned her chest back down onto the dashboard, voice panting in her ear.

“Thought you could best me, little rebel?” He crooned through hard sups of air, breath blooming over the back of her neck.

“Shut up,” she snarled, widening her legs for him as his hand snuck around to undo her fatigues, “just hurry.”

He seemed to heed her words. Rose heard the rustle of fabric as he held her steady, and then she groaned at the sudden, new feel of him, hot and tight inside and all at once consuming her. Her back bowed as he slid flush, her hands slip-sliding over the control panels, palms slick with sweat as she tried to find purchase enough to get leverage and push back against him.

With the way they’d started, Rose thought the pace would be punishing, but damn it if he wasn’t taking her slow. Tortuously slow, even for him, if his clenched-jaw sounds of denial were anything to go by. The lover-like way he rolled against her made her heart flip and a weak, whimpering mewl betray her.

His dark chuckle, strained and raw, made that fire in her roar again.

She tensed, on purpose, constricting all her muscles as hard as she could and was rewarded with a stuttering, torn-up moan. He snapped his hips in retaliation, or maybe he just couldn’t help it anymore.

Reaching back over her shoulder, she fisted her hand in the front of his jacket, hauling him down until he was splayed over her, his hands covering the backs of hers, fingers interlocking, their arms draped against the controls as his breath crested faster and the cries she tried to muffle tore out of her at higher and higher octaves, the force of their bodies rocking her against the dashboard with delicious friction.

With a stifled moan, pleasure ripped through her, jerking her body under his weight as he pinned her tight and shuddered; she could feel the pulse of him surge and subside slowly.

“Stars,” Rose muttered, breathing hard, feeling Hux pepper the back of her neck with kisses, humming slightly as he rested his forehead against the back of her head. She turned her chin and he bent down to give her a proper kiss, warm and slow.

“You don’t think anyone heard us, do you?” She muttered against his lips, slightly woozy.

Hux’s green eyes squinted at her, and she relished the deep flush of exertion spread across his face.

“I’m finding it hard to muster enough energy to care, quite honestly,” he said, eventually pulling away, retreating from her even as Rose craved to keep him close.

“I’ll walk you back to your room,” he added, adjusting his clothes, “before I depart.”

“No,” she said, turning and shimmying her fatigues on back over he hips, drawing him in by the arm for another kiss. “Stay the night with me.”

He had the audacity to look surprised.

“Tico…”

Her eyebrows jumped. “Tico??”

He swallowed.

“Rose. I-”

An emotion flickered over his face then, so fast she might have missed it, save for the way it brought a small smile to his lips.

“If that is what you wish,” he finished quietly.

Rose ghosted her mouth against his before biting down hard on his lower lip.

“It is.”

* * *

Sail

Even with the bright lights of the base nearby, the stars above the grassy knoll were just as breathtaking as ever. It was a view of the galaxy she'd probably never see again after tomorrow.

"Where will you go?" The man lying beside her asked, his fingers threaded together loosely on his stomach.

"Home, probably," Rose replied, watching the twinkling lights above. "For a little bit, at least. Then? I dunno. I guess we're free to do what we want now. What about you, Hux?"

He let out a small sigh. “Considering I assumed I’d either be dead or in prison at this point, I must admit I haven’t given it much thought. Arkanis, perhaps. But it’s been some years and I don’t foresee finding anything left of use for me there.”

Rose turned on her side to face him, elbow bending as she propped up her cheek to look at him. His hair had grown, still slicked back on top but drawn into a short, tight tail at the back; the moonlight cast white and sharp upon the smooth plains of his face.

His gaze flickered over to her, head turning slightly in the grass.

“Come with me,” she said, the words alighting something both flutteringly sweet and yet solidly determined within her.

Hux let out a joyless sound of breath and incredulity, mouth twisting into a sardonic smile.

“Go with you? And do what? Sail aimlessly through the galaxy?”

“Why not?”

The self-deprecating mirth slowly drained from his face, his brow furrowed as he searched her eyes.

“You’re serious.”

Rose nodded.

“Hays Minor is all but gone,” she said, plowing through her feelings at the brief, wincing look on his face. “And you said there’s nothing for you on Arkanis. We can go wherever we want now. Come with me, Hux,” and she hated that note of desperation in her voice,but she found the image of them, casting off for the unknown together, suddenly so incredibly enticing...

He looked dubious.

“You’d choose the company of someone like me?”

Rose rolled her eyes, smiling a little.

“I’ve been in your company for a while now...And I’ve kinda enjoyed it, if you haven’t noticed.”

His lips parted in slight surprise, and she could almost see his mind cataloging all the hours they’d spent on base working side-by-side.Slowly, he leaned up on his arm, his hands unclasping so one warm palm could slot against her cheek. Hux thumbed the side of her chin as she leaned into his touch.

He held her gaze for a moment before dipping down and capturing her lips in a soft, brief kiss. When he pulled away, Rose was grinning.

“Wherever we want, hm?” He muttered, smirking softly but gazing fondly down at her.

Rose laid her hand over his.

“That is the idea.”

* * *

Luminous

"I don't see anything," he mutters as they stand in the center of the cave, listening to the echoing plinks of dripping groundwater and breathing in the cool, damp underground air.

Rose frowns; he can see it in the shine of the glowlamp she holds.

"I thought for sure it would be here," she mutters, cocking her hip and thinking hard, tapping her chin with a calloused finger. Hux watches, half amused and half enraptured by her.

Her hair is slightly frizzy from the humidity, sweat-damp clothes sticking her to skin, and Hux is reminded of all the burning, burgeoning sentiments he wishes to tell her. The words still elude him, and so he suffers in silence until he can muster up the fortitude & the language to say...

"Perhaps we are in the wrong place," he suggests, shrugging a little as his eyes try and adjust to the darkness. Rose makes a noise of regret just as something glints in the corner of his eye; something dull made luminous from the cast of her lamp.

"Rose..."

"Huh?"

She turns to him just as he tilts his head back and points one gloved finger skyward, towards the roof of the cave. Rose opens her mouth in surprise, directing the light of the lamp upward.

The beam hits the ceiling, and as it does so, the light bursts against the thick clusters of crystals that blanket the entire earthen canopy. The light refracts outward and into an innumerable number of glassy, diamond-like surfaces, rebounding over and over in a rainbow of glittering, gleaming chromaticity.

"Hux," she breathes in wonder, and he is only dimly aware that her hand has closed around his wrist as his gaze flickers to and fro along the ceiling, trying to catch colors he cannot even name.

It is like watching the birth of a nebula; like all the condensed hues of far-off winking stars netted together and hung so perfectly above them.

His breath is stolen, and yet he hears a noise like a gasp and a sob commingling, and so he wrenches his gaze away back towards Rose and he sees tears running down her cheeks, the sight having moved her with overflowing emotion. In her wide, glossy eyes, he sees all of creation captured in tiny pinpricks of brilliance. Her gaze rounds on him, and he is suddenly looking at the galaxy herself.

"Rose-" His voice breaks; the woman he's come to love all stitched up in starlight...

She smiles through her tears at the look on his face, and all the burning, burgeoning sentiments he wants to tell her are reflected back at him in her gentle, star-kissed expression.

"Hux-"

"I love you."

She's surprised, and then she grins.


	3. September 2020

Smoke & Alchemy

She exits hyperspace just in time to see his pursuing TIE fighters fire upon his ship. Hidden behind the small planet’s moon, she watches the blast connect with his port-side wing in a burst of sparks, spinning him suddenly out of control.

He plummets, like a falling star of smoke and fire, towards the planet’s surface. Inside her own cockpit, Rose screams in horror, but she cannot move. She cannot reveal herself until the First Order fighters have gone.She finds his stolen light fighter crashed into one of the planet’s many beaches.

Quite near their planned rendezvous spot, Rose realizes as she touches down.

She’s stumbling out of her small craft before it even settles fully into the sand.

And then she is running.

Ahead, lapped at by waves, his ship is beginning to flame. Rose feels like she’s drowning. She stumbles, pushes back up, and calls out to him.

“Hux!”

No answer.

She’s choking on rising sobs as she flings herself against the hatch of his little ship. The fire’s growing.

“Hux! No no no. Armitage!”

She slams her fist against one of the hidden access panels. The plating pops up, revealing the emergency release handle. She grips with with all her might and pulls. The hatch gull-wings open with terrifying force, slamming upward.

Inside, slung sideways in his harness, she finds him unconscious. There’s blood running from a gash in his forehead, and his hair has been knocked askew from the force of impact, but he could still be alive.

Rose sides the knife from her boot, and using the hatch as leverage, slices through his restraints.

His limp body slides from the pilot’s chair into her arms. The force and weight knock her back, and they both go tumbling down into the sand.

Clawing at him, she turns him over; touches his face. He’s warm, but is he breathing?

She’s trying to stay cam but the ship is roaring now and they need to get away. But he’s so heavy and she’s so small and she didn’t tell _anyone_ where she was going and _why_ had she been so stupid? So careless.

Rose reins in her sawing, panicked gasping and moves to grip Hux under the arms, to drag him away. She yanks, but he only sides a few inches.

His ruined craft groans as the metal heats and begins to contort.

Shit.

_Shit shit shit._

In her arms, she hears him utter a dry, clenching moan. It is that one sound, that one note of hope, and a strange sensation blankets over her. Rose feels it pulse inside, some ancient alchemy. Everything else goes fuzzy. Everything else goes dull. Everything except the strength in her arms.

With a groan, she hauls him backward, as far as she can go, before the adrenaline rushes out of her and she collapses.

She doesn’t realize until the daze begins to ebb, that they’ve made it halfway back to her ship. A miracle.

She laughs, sobs, and watches his craft now engulfed in flame begin to rupture. She’s still catching her breath, lungs raw, crying with loud relief, when she feels a hand on her leg. Her sobs stutter out.

“Miss... Tico?”

\He’s all banged up, definitely worse for wear, but Hux has turned toward her on the sand, wincing and looking slightly dazed.

Rose gasps, scrambling around so she can grip him; cleave him to her body.

At her sudden weight, her tight-clenching hug, he makes a noise of pain.

“Oh!” Rose pulls away, startled. “I’m sorry! I-”

But he only chuckles weakly, and draws her back in.

* * *

Rigor

She swung out her arms.

"How do I look?"

There was a pause.

"... Moderately passable."

Rose frowned, indignant. "Hey!"

Where he leaned back against his desk, General Hux threw her a scowl. "Why I even agreed to this harebrained idea..."

“You can’t be everywhere at once." Rose adjusted the cuff of her First Order uniform. "You’ve given us some good intel, but Leia wanted a report from inside your lower ranks.”

“So she can turn my men against me,” he spat.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Pfft. Says _the spy_.”

Hux worked his jaw, anger threatening to roil. “In any case, this still a monstrously terrible idea. You understand that I will be unable to offer any sort of assistance should you be caught.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. You’re worried about me.”

“I-”

Her words had momentarily scattered his thoughts; it made him falter before he was able to rein them in.

“It would be _exceedingly inconvenient_ for me to find another contact within the Resistance, that’s all.”

“Uh-huh,” Rose grinned at him. “Sure.”

He turned away from her then, to reach for the datapad he had secured for her, but he could not deny it also shielded the expression on his face from her scrutiny. He shouldn’t be feeling this anxious. It was ridiculous.

When he turned around, he had already schooled his composure back into something cold as he handed her the pad.

“Be forewarned, I expect a great deal from my team. The rigors of the First Order's mechanical engineering department cannot be understated."

Rose snatched the datapad, eager to begin exploring the Order’s vast data library within.

Something in her excitement, the way she looked so bright and flushed with life, made Hux want to reach out and touch her; brush the flyaway strands of her hair back into regulation.

He resisted, clasping his hands instead behind his back as he straightened up to his full, imposing height.

“Well then, Major. You are dismissed.”

Rose tucked the datapad under her arm, knocked her heels together, and gave him a abysmally sloppy salute before she practically bounded out of his office.

As the door slid closed, similarly did Hux’s ridged demeanor melt from his body. He sagged back against the desk, pinching the bridge of his nose.

She was going to get them both killed. He just knew it.

* * *

Mercury

She's kriffing _late._

Rose checks the on-board chronometer as her ship touches down. The night is clear, and she can see the landing pad bathed in the planet's two moons.

Wait a minute. Was that--?

There, below, a figure stands at the edge near the catwalk, coat billowing in the wind kicked up from her transport.

"Ugh. No way."

Rose powers off her craft and collects her bag before she exits down the ramp into the cool evening air.

Ahead, Armitage Hux stands like a wraith in the night. He inclines his head as she approaches.

“Ambassador.”

Rose’s expression is all incredulity. “You don’t think, like,” she makes a motion with her free hand, “a security detail would be a good idea?”

Her informality irks him, she can tell. It’s not the first time they’ve met like this, post-treaty, but their professional relationship is still fresh; the wounds of war still raw.

He looks away, jaw ticking. In the moonlight, his ginger hair glows like mercury. 

“I am more than capable of protecting myself.”

There’s a note of petulance in his voice that Rose revels in. Oh, she does enjoy winding this man up.

“Of course, Grand Marshal, of course,” Rose rattles off as she reached in her bag and extracts a packet of holoflimsy. Physical copies were more secure that files on a datapad.

“I have out new charter proposals.”

His upper lip sneers, but it’s not a severe as she’s seen in the past.

“The New Alliance. Always working.”

“Look who’s talking,” she shoots back as they start down the catwalk towards the spaceport terminal.

Something beats like a wing in her stomach. Walking here, with this man, a man she’d wanted dead not long ago. Now a man they were negotiating with.

“I heard you recently started paying stormtroopers commission,” she said, wincing at the way her voice comes out; breathy. “That you’re recruiting now, instead of kidnapping.”

She glances sideways toward Hux, who is walking stiffly by her side, gloved hands clasped behind his back.

“Yes, well... there is something to be said for a loyalty freely given.”

“Geez," she tries not to smile. "I mean, I could have told you that, like, three years ago.” At his icy look, she adds, "But hey, better late than never."

* * *

Suspension

“You don’t have to stay down here, you know,” Finn said. “It’s not like he’s going anywhere.”

Rose looked away. The green glow from the tank reflected like a ghostly shroud upon the side of her face.

“I know...”

It was silly, really. But there was something that nagged inside her, some unknown emotion that made her keep vigil day after day. Maybe it was the fact that he’d given her back her pendant. Maybe it was because she’d come to learn he’d been the spy. Helped the Resistance. Helped save the galaxy.

She just wanted to know _why._

What had made this man?

Rose turned back to the bacta pod, in which the battered and broken body of Armitage Hux hung in suspension. Aside from the breathing apparatus covering his nose and mouth, he looked almost... peaceful.

They’d found him in the wreckage of an escape pod. Almost as if someone had strapped him in and jettisoned him to safety. Well... relative safety. He’d been on death’s door more than a few times since they rescued- captured- retrieved him.

Rose pressed her hand against the tank, mesmerized by the way his hair fanned and swayed gently in the liquid that was attempting to heal him.

She peered closer, trying to reconcile the screaming maniac she remembered from Starkiller, the enigmatic pompous jerk from the Supremacy that liked to haunt her dreams, with the man before her now, his expression almost serene.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, just as her nose was near pressed to the glass.

Rose jumped back with a shriek of surprise as his quickly sharpening gaze suddenly focused directly on her.

* * *

Fizz

Rose watched anger, then confusion, then panic flit over the top half of Armitage's Hux face, his mouth and nose obscured by the bacta tank's breathing apparatus.

He jerked, chest heaving painfully at the strange sensation of being under water and yet simultaneously having a steady stream of oxygen being pumped into his lungs.

"Don't struggle," Rose said, recovering from her shock and stepping back towards the tank once more. A torrent of bubbles expelled from the underside of his mask, shooting upward towards the sloshing top of the tank where they burst and fizzed angrily along the surface.

Rose watched, heart hammering, as Hux tried to reach up and yank the contraption from his face, but pain lanced over his features at the harsh, sudden movement, his hand and arm spasming. His eyes winced shut, brows drawn harshly together. There came another rush of bubbles before she watched the fight, and his strength, drain out of him.

She planted her hip. "Are you done?"

Hux, floating, listing slightly with pain inside the greenish fluid, glared at her, eyes narrowed into slits. His fanned hair drifted down over his forehead and back up again, swaying gently in the ebb of his momentary thrashing.

"You're still healing," she said, trying to placate. "You almost died. _Multiple times._ "

His creased forehead twitched as one brow shrugged upward, incredulous.

"Why?" Rose echoed. "We weren't going to let you die. We're not _monsters_."

The implication there made him cut his gaze away.

He certainly would have let them die, if the positions were reversed. Rose knew that.

Gently, she laid her hand against the transparasteel.

Hux's expression tensed. She could almost imagine the sneer of disgust that twisted his lip. Eventually, his eyes darted around in a meaningful way, before settling back onto Rose.

"Suppose you want to know what happened, huh?" His chin tilted down a fraction. "Well..."

Green eyes, now even more vivid in the tinted water, watched Rose warily as she pulled up a chair and sat down.

She folded her arms across her chest.

"It's a long story," Rose said, "but you're certainly not going anywhere, so I guess you've got the time to hear it."

* * *

Cobalt

For all the tight-shouldered, ramrod straight, clasped-hand demeanor he exudes among his fellows, Rose finds a different sort of man wrapped up with her in bed.

He falls asleep the fastest when their legs are intertwined, one arm curled possessively around her middle, drawing her back into his chest so fiercely Rose almost thinks he's trying to absorb her right into his body. His other hand will drift.

Sometimes, it is cupped around one of her breasts, soft in its long-fingered embrace.

Sometimes, she wakes as the sky shifts from midnight black to cobalt blue, and finds his hand alighted on her throat, a gentle hold, his face buried against the back of her neck.

Does he think she will leave? Disappear?

Rose snuggles further into the warm cradle of his arms as pink splits across the horizon. His plush lips press a gentle, sleepy kiss to her nape. Rose closes her eyes, relishing in his warmth.

She wouldn't leave. Not now. Not ever.

* * *

Class

Poe and the rest of the delegation are late.

Rose pinches the bridge of her nose and lets out a sharp exhale, her small noise of frustration swallowed up by the gala's revelry swelling around her.

"Let me guess," a smooth cool voice trickles down her spine. "The General flyboy cannot tell time."

Rose looks up, a swooping feeling in her stomach making her vaguely dizzy as she sees that Armitage Hux has come to a stop before her. She feels her cheeks begin to heat under his inquisitorial stare.

Trying to appear undaunted, Rose pulls herself together.

"They'll be here."

"Mm," is all he says, taking a sip of whatever resides in his crystal glass, still pinning her with his eyes.

Rose realizes, as she considers him, this is the most formal she's ever seen him. His state of dress still resembles his old General's uniform, however the silver demarcation bands along his cuff are now gold, mirrored upon both wrists. The shoulders of his jacket are still impractically sharp, but upon them now sit a pair of regal epaulets. They're nothing gaudy, no fringe, just a single woven rope of gold each. From one, a similarly gold aiguillette drapes down in a double loop.

It's muted, for a Grand Marshal, and yet it still oozes class.

Against the butterflies in her stomach, Rose plants her hip.

"You came all the way over here to gloat about Poe's lack of timing?"

The rim of his glass parts from his mouth, which is now curved up in a self-satisfied smile.

"Oh well of course not, Miss Tico. I had simply observed that you were in need of a drink Shall we remedy this grievous mistake?"

Rose narrows her eyes at him. He has a game he's playing, she just hasn't figured it out yet.

"Sure." She tries for flippant and casual, but isn't sure it lands. "What are you drinking?"

Hux tilts his head.

"Only the best."

* * *

Temper

He will not rage.

He will not throw things.

He is not Ren.

He is no child.

But standing there in the turbolift which carries him back up to his private chambers, it takes everything Hux has to rein in the hot swell of emotion threatening to overtake him. He hates that, in these moments, he feels the most like Brendol.

When the doors swish open and he walks inside, the woman propped reading from the light of a holopad looks up.

"Hey there! Are..." she trails off. "Are you okay?"

He tries to speak, to reply, but no sound comes out his tightly-clenched jaw. His hands are curled into fists. He can move no further into the room, nor can he retreat into the fresher. He is frozen.

Rose slips out from under the covers, dressed in an over-large t-shirt, and pads her way to him.

"What happened?" She whispers, tipping up on her toes to hold his face in her hands.

He closes his eyes and shakes his head, a minute motion. He's still angry, but even her soft touch seems to soothe his temper.

She rubs the back of his neck; stokes his arm.

"It'll be alright," she says, soft as ash. "I promise."

And fool that he is for her, he believes her. 

* * *

Bind

"Hux!" Her voice echoes from down the starship's long, sterile hallway. Her words warble, pitched high toward hysterics, and he turns only just in time for her short, firm frame to barrel into his.

It knocks the breath out of him, even as he wraps his long arms around Rose's body and huddles her close to his chest, his head buried in the crows of her head.

The feeling of her touch, after so long without it, almost overwhelms him, and it takes a moment for him to realize that she is crying, weeping with joy, into the front of his tattered uniform, almost soaking the wrapped bandage beneath.

When she turns her face up to his, it is to grace him with a red-faced, tear-streaked, trembling-chin look of pure love and *stars,* how could such a fierce, lovely creature bind herself to someone like him? And even so, being in her arms, it feels like home.

"I'm alright," he whispers, cradling the back of her head, tilting down and taking her mouth in a kiss.

She strains, hands wound tight in the lapels of his scorched First Order uniform. She has to break away from the searing relief of his kiss to suck in air through her tears, but she surges back to claim him with renewed vigor.

"I-" she's breathless as they break apart "I didn't think you'd make it," she manages. Neither did he, but he doesn't tell her that.

"Oh, my dear," he whispers, stroking her cheek. "I would fight my way to you through the vacuum of space itself."

Rose breaks down into sobs once again, nuzzling into his chest. Hux holds her, feeling as if he is floating above his body.

They're here. They're both alive. They're together. It's everything that, before, he never knew he wanted.

Now? It's his whole world.

* * *

Distill

Rose watches him out their kitchen window. Times like these, when he takes a break from his work to simply sit and worship the sun, she pauses in her own chores to marvel at him: his pale skin in the bright light; the fire of his hair.

He does this, she knows, because of his childhood. He's told her as much. Rain and bleak-grey skies and decades in space.

With a slight smile to his face, eyes closed peacefully, she wonders if he's trying to distill all that radiant sunlight so he can carry it around with him. Burn away the ghosts and the nightmares that still linger in the shadows; that haunt him in the deep, dark night.

Rose pulls herself away long enough to stack the little sandwiches she's made onto a plate, and to grab the bottle of sweet palm fruit juice, tucking it up under her arm. She steps out into the afternoon, padding her way over to where Hux is lounging on the old Resistance-issue blanket spread out there on the grass, and takes a seat beside him. 

* * *

Molten, Reaction, Lead, Bond

“You’re going to have to jump, Tico!”

He’s standing on the other side of the cavern’s now crumbling stone bridge, motioning emphatically.

The entire planet shakes around them, and in the distance, Hux can hear the teeth-chattering grate of boulders coming loose and crashing down from the now unstable ceiling.

They’re fifty yards from the ship, but the path they’ve been using has been damaged, broken away.

It was a precarious enough leap for even his long legs, but for Rose...

He can see, despite the dark, the molten fear in her eyes.

She’s clutching her coat around her, pockets laden with the precious crystals they’d flown so far to retrieve.

She shifts from foot to foot, trembling.

“Hux...”

“You have to _jump_ , Rose. Now!”

He pours every ounce of a General’s command into his voice. He does not have time to coddle her or worry about her reaction to the hard edge to his words. He is not leaving her.

Rose looks at him straight in the eye then, her tremors gone, and he knows she has steeled herself. He hunches in anticipation as she rears back, gathers her momentum, and takes a few well-timed steps before she leaps across the chasm-

There is a moment, where his arms reach for her and she is at the pinnacle of the arc she makes towards him, when a voice inside his head- the nasty, throttling voice of a father’s disappointment- tells him that he will not catch her.

The thought of watching this woman, such a brilliant star of a woman, drop past the safety of his hold to a dark death below solidifies like a lead weight into Hux’s stomach, but he reaches for her even still, hoping that it is enough. That he is enough.

An instant later, Rose tumbles into his grasp with lung-punching relief. He can feel the jagged edges of the crystals digging into his ribs, he is holding her so fiercely tight.

They stay like that, just for a moment,

wrapped in each other’s arms, unwilling to let go; to say the words they’ve been unable to say for weeks now.

His voice nearly breaks when he asks, “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” she gasps, heart in her throat.

“Good, let’s go.”

He takes her hand, feeling as if a new bond has been forged between them, as they dash across the ancient parapet towards welcome safety.


	4. October & November 2020

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This month's microfics are a continuous, linear story within a Wizard!AU setting.

Hex

Rose tip-toed her fingers over the top of the dusty piano, tracing the outlines of dried flowers, bundles of smudging sage, and piles of crystals. She hadn’t even heard him behind her, but when she reached for a blood-red, crystal goblet, a pale hand caught her fingers.

“Not that one,” a quiet, steel-sharp voice said over her shoulder, breath against her ear. “It’s cursed.”

Rose turned, her hand still caught in his gentle, firm grip. “Cursed?” A shiver ran down her spine at the thought.

Hux shrugged a shoulder, releasing her like she were silk through his fingers. Up close, Rose could see how his green eyes burned like the sun through beach glass.

“Cursed, damned, betwitched. However you would like to call it.” He eyed the goblet. “A hex of eternal thirst. Quite nasty. Difficult to remove. Now,” he retreated from her, folding down into a chair with such fluidity, Rose swore it was a testament to the magic she knew coursed through this man’s veins. “You said you were in need of something?”

“Ah, yeah,” Rose tripped over her words, seemingly already caught in his spell. “For my sister. She’s sick and-”

“For your sister,” Hux echoed, eyes bright & piercing. He motioned for her to sit. “Well, best we get started then, hm?”

Rose nodded, moving towards a chair.

* * *

Superstition

Rose waited with baited breath as the man across the table fell silent. His jaw worked.

Eventually, Hux said, "I'll need something of your sister's, for the spell." Across the small table, Rose perked up.

"Oh! Right, right," she muttered, hoisting her overstuffed purse into her lap. "I have, uh, I have her favorite scrunchy in here... somewhere..." She started sifting through the contents of her bag, extracting a few various items to make room.

Hux watched with raised eyebrows as Rose began to absorb all free space upon the table with the contents of her life. Her phone. Her compact. Sunglasses. Scarf she's worn that morning. Pencil case. On and on. Hux zeroed in his gaze on her bag. It wasn't enchanted... was it?

"Oh!" Rose jerked out a pink, sparkly hairband with a triumphant noise, accidentally jostling the table in her victory. Her motion wobbled the compact that had been sitting on the edge, tipping it over the side. She watched, horrified, as it fell...

Lightening fast, an hand with long pale fingers struck out and caught the item before it hit the ground by mere inches.

"Oh..." Rose felt her heart thump. He'd moved so fast. "Thank you," she said, as Hux sat back up and placed the compact down firmly on the table.

"It was necessary. For the spell to take."

"Huh?"

"The mirror," Hux said pointedly.

Rose blinked, still confused. "Sorry?"

"The mirror. Inside." He gave her an odd look. "Breaking the mirror. Are you truly not aware that it's bad luck? The spell would fail."

Rose chuckled, suddenly very nervous. "Ah, but that's like, just silly superstition... right?"

Hux leveled her with a serious, deep-searching stare, like he was looking right through her. It sent all manner or goosebumps erupting over her skin.

Rose gave him a sheepish look, reaching slowly out and dragging the compact back over the table towards her.

"Sorry," she whispered, cheeks flaring warm.

* * *

Cloak

Rain sizzled on the sidewalk as Rose stopped short, having turned from locking her apartment's door. She was pinned to the spot by the image of a tall figure standing just outside the halo of streetlamp light across the road.

Their face was shadowed by the hood of a long, black cloak, and yet something about them radiated a familiar aura...

“Armitage?" Rose pulled her own coat higher as she splashed across the puddles over to him. Honestly, she hadn't expected to see him again, not since he'd preformed the spell for Paige. Tilting up to see his face, she was met with cool green eyes and the achingly beautiful plains of his face. As always, he looked serious; severe, but maybe a little bit... unsure?

"I have a... proposition," he said, in that curt, beautifully unfurling accent. Rose's heart fled up into her throat.

"Wh- huh?" His gaze darted away from her for a long moment before returning.

"A job offer."

"Job offer?" She repeated, incredulous. He frowned at her.

"You had said you were in need of work, and-" A pained expression flitted across his face, so fast, she might have missed it. "And you were correct if your assessment," he said eventually. "I am prolific in my craft but... I lack the novel experiences of the non-magical community. Ones that, as you said, I take for granted."

He cleared his throat. "I thought perhaps you might be able to help in that regard. For research purposes."

Rose stared at him. He'd tracked her down and waited outside her house in the now sheeting rain just to ask her to-

"You want me to... what... clean for you? Cook for you? Because... because you want to learn what it's like for us who... who can't use magic?" She was floored.

Even in the rain, under the hood, she could see how his cheeks flared with heat.

"I understand that this is a strange request. You are not obligated to-"

Rose let out a gasp of delight, springing to life. It caught Hux off guard, his eyes going wide. Rose, on the other hand, was brimming with excitement. Earn money _and_ have an inside look at a _real_ wizard's life? Was she dreaming?

"I'd love to!" She squealed with barley-constrained delight. "When can I start?!"

Hux gave her a small, hesitant smile.

"Tomorrow."

* * *

Mist

Being a wizard's housekeeper has its challenges. Mainly, more often than not, Rose is liable to find things in places they should _never, ever_ be. Like the kitchen...

Hux doesn't store so much food in his dinky, old refrigerator that looks like it's gotta be out of the 1940s, as weird non-edible nightmares.

"What the fuuck," Rose grimaces as she slides aside a jar containing a mass of tiny, pickled snakes, attacking the shelves with her yellow sponge. She works at old, sticky red spot that she desperately hopes is just beet juice or wine or something even remotely normal.

"Is there a problem?" A voice close over her shoulder gives her a violent start to her feet.

"Mother f-" She whirls around to see Hux standing there. _Right_ there. He's always so damn quiet! Rolling in and out of rooms like a gloomy cloud of mist.

She whacks his chest with the spare rubber glove she holds, his eyes widening. "Don't _do_ that!"

"My apologies," he murmurs, ginger filigree brows slowly rising.

The look on his face almost makes Rose feel bad for hitting him. Almost. She huffs, shoulders drooping.

"Sorry, it's fine, it's just-" she motions to the open door of the fridge, where undoubtedly more nightmares await. "Seriously?"

Hux cocks his head. 

Rose blinks owlishly at him. He is... completely unaware why storing dead wildlife in his kitchen is a problem.

"Never mind," she grumbles, hunkering back down to keep cleaning.

Hux stands there for a long moment watching her- she can feel him behind her, presence both wickedly alluring and also a bit like a cold tendril of smoke sliding down her back- until he exits the room as silently as he entered.

* * *

Bat

Evening fell as Rose slipped inside the bungalow, hefting a large bag of laundry on her hip. She'd had to drive all the way downtown to use the laundromat because, obviously, wizards don't own washers and dryers.

"Can't you just," she'd made a flippant gesture before she'd gone, "clean all this with a spell or something?"

Hux had given her a narrowed-eyed, pensive look. After a long moment, he'd replied, "Conventional washing gets rid of the smell."

Her expression quirked, baffled. "Smell?"

The wizard had let out a loud huff through his nose, clearly annoyed, and when he'd replied, Rose had noticed the tips of his cheekbones were slightly pink.

"The _magic_ smell," he'd clarified, turning away and plucking two leaves off an herb plant in the window. Rubbing them together, Rose watched entranced as the leaves slid their way into coins, which Hux promptly presented her.

"Uh... thanks," she's said, taking the coins. They'd been warm from his touch.

When she'd left for the laundromat, Hux had been alone, but now,as she made her way down the hallway, Rose could hear voices. Low murmurings from around the corner, where the kitchen and breakfast nook lay.

As she stole closer, she could hear a deep, rumbling voice say, "You'd be doing us a favor."

"I don't believe I owe the Order any favors," came Hux's terse, clenched reply. "Not anymore."

"Hux, come on-"

"Absolutely _not_."

He was getting hot under the collar, Rose could tell. Steeling herself, she cupped her hand around her mouth, so her words would sound further away.

"I'm back!" She muffled.

The voices immediately stopped as she rounded the corner. Except, instead of Hux and some mystery man standing around the little kitchen table, all Rose caught was the glimpse of something flap-flapping out the open window.

"Was..." Rose looked at Hux, who was standing ram-rod straight behind a kitchen chair. "Was that a bat?"

Hux rolled his eyes, reaching over to snap the window shut.

"That's just Solo," he groused. "If we're lucky, he'll be eaten by an owl on his way home."

Rose couldn't help the giggle that escaped her. Hux turned, and her heart flipped at the soft, unguarded smile he gave her.

"Come," he said, as she put down the washing, "I've made dinner." Rose gave a start and gaped at him.

"You did _what_?!" She had no idea he even knew how to operate a stove. "And the house is still standing!?"

"Ah-ha-ha," Hux retorted with deadpan sarcasm, turning to slink into the kitchen. There came the distinct *pop* of a cork.

Rose grinned, helpless to follow, eager to see just what the man had made.

* * *

Flashlight

Rose wakes in the bungalow’s spare bedroom with a start, unsure for a moment where she is. 

Oh, that's right, she thinks blandly. I'm the live-in housekeeper for a wack-ass wizard. 

Her phone, when she checks it, reads 1:43 AM. Gross.

She tries to go back to sleep, but after a long while of tossing and turning, she has to pee. 

The hallway outside is empty. Prior to her tidying up, it would have been a minefield to navigate, littered with stacks of books and dried herbs, old coats and odd nicknacks. Now, under the sweep of her phone's flashlight, it's relatively clear. Rose pees quickly, shivering slightly, before starting back towards her room. 

Only- Something catches her eye just outside the ring of white phone light. Carefully, she tip-toes into the living room.

"Hux?" she asks in a confused whisper. 

He's sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor, facing away from her. He neither moves nor speaks at the noise she makes. That's... weird. 

Inching closer, she calls his name again, but no response. Circling around to face him, and chill runs up her spine. He's sitting as if meditating, eyes open, but... 

Rose leans closer. 

"The fuck?" His eyes are white. Rolled back in his head. She recoils slightly, eyes roaming over his ridged form. "That's... so creepy..." 

After a long moment, Rose realizes he doesn't even seem to be breathing. Her heart flips. Is that... normal? 

"Hux? Hey, Hux!" She leans closer, then closer still, until they're almost nose-to-nose. He's unresponsive. Panic rises. "Hey. Hey, come on, Hux. You gotta-"

Her hand reaches out to grasp his shoulder, and she makes contact, a number of things happen all at once: Hux stutters to life with a heaving intake of air, eyes rolling down back to normal, green and glaring and shrouded in startled fear. 

Rose gives a start, shrieking, unbalanced on the balls of her feet. Her sound cuts off as Hux's long fingers wrap around her throat, tight, his weight throwing her sideways to the ground as he rolls atop her. 

It all happens at lightening speed, and Rose suddenly finds herself on her back upon the floor- with the entire weight of Armitage Hux pressing her down. 

"Haah-" she rasps. His eyes, glazed and unfocused, suddenly clear, the snarl on his mouth dropping, as well as the hand from her windpipe. "Rose?" His voice is low and soft, rough and confused; oh so /very/ close.

"Wh-," she chokes and coughs, framed between his hands that now rest on either side of her head. "What-?" 

"I-" he still looks shaken, and then suddenly abashed, realizing he's holding her down with his body. "My apologies," he mumbles, retreating to his knees, giving Rose space. His face, when she sits up after taking a moment, is utterly crimson. 

"I... didn't mean to scare you," she whispers, legs still caged by his, mourning strangely the loss of his heat. "But, damn Hux, what the hell?"

"Astral projection," he supplies, because *of course*. Rose nods emphatically, as if she understands. As if she 'gets it'. They stare at each other for a long moment as a deep frown pulls begins to pull at his lips. "Are you alright?" he asks in a soft, breakable voice.

Rose's heart softens. "Yeah... yeah I think I am. I just-" 

"Tea?" He interjects, worry lacing his words. As if tea could make her feel better. Strangely, Rose thinks it might. 

"Yeah," she says, taking his offered hand as he stands. "Tea sounds good."

* * *

Pumpkin

Rose lounged on the couch in the bungalow’s living room, finished with all her work for the day; housekeeping duties and the essay for her college class. Lazy, late-afternoon light crept across the faded carpet as she zoned out, staring at the ceiling. 

She couldn’t quite explain why, but the house always felt so calm and peaceful. Slow and sleepy. Like the golden light outside made the space within impervious to the bustling world beyond, encasing it in protective amber. Blissful. 

“Mrrow,” a noise alerted Rose to Millicent’s presence as the cat bounded up onto Rose’s stomach.

“Oof- hey sweetie. Missin’ your dad?” Hux had been out all day. 

_“A gathering of others like myself,”_ he’d told her. 

Rose had nodded emphatically.

_“Ah. A boy scouts meeting.”_

_“...I...suppose.”_

Millicent usually wasn’t so friendly; she must have been feeling really needy. Rose scratched behind her ears as the cat pinned her with her unnerving stare. 

Rose wasn’t really sure if she was like, a cat-cat, or a Hux-cat. Weird and otherworldly and more than meets the eye. 

Rose yawned, stroking the pumpkin-colored kitty, the animal’s comforting weight and warmth lulling her into a long nap. 

Hours later, after night had fully consumed the fragile twilight, Hux appeared with a soft _~pop~_ in the bungalow’s front entryway. 

He was grumpy, worn thin by a trying day dealing with the Order. Any amount of time he has to spend in the presence of Ben Solo always frayed his patience near to snapping. 

He was still fuming as he rolled like a storm cloud through to the kitchen,but stopped short at the sight that greeted him. Millicent, curled up in a ball on Rose’s chest, who sleeps arms akimbo, draped all over his couch. The weight of the day, of what may lie ahead, eased off his shoulders slightly as he crept closer, watching with a tired but affectionate gaze perhaps the only two beings in the entire miserable world he could even bother to care about. 

With a snap of his fingers, a dark, emerald green quilt appeared from the ether, fluttering down gently to cover Rose and keep her warm. 

Millicent, having felt his presence, lifted her head with a bleary yawn. 

Hux put a finger to his lips. 

“Shh. Let her sleep, she’s more than earned it,” he said, before retreating to make a pot of tea. “She works far too hard.”

* * *

Costume

When Hux does not return after the fifth day, Rose knows something is wrong. Feels it, deep in her bones. 

Panic and unknown fear slosh around inside her, an unmoored boat on waters she cannot navigate. 

What happened? What went wrong? Is he dead? Hurt? Lost? 

Rose has no way to contact Ben, but she leaves every window in the bungalow cracked open just in case. He owes her an explanation, she thinks. He owes her *something*. 

With only Millicent as a housemate, Rose throws her nervous energy into as many ritual spells as she can remember. 

She places a plate of milk outside the back door, refreshing it every evening; burns incense in all the rooms until the smoke makes her sneeze; keeps a red candle lit in every window throughout the night. She sweeps the stoop, three times a day; refreshes the herbs hanging in the kitchen until the bungalow swells with earthy, pungent smells; breaks a plate against the side of the house. Re-salts the doorways. And yet, no Hux.

It goes on like this, for a week. A month.

It's not enough, she thinks. Not enough. 

For a long time, she avoids the one place she's never ventured alone: his bedroom. Now, she has no choice. Inside, Hux is everywhere. His pale fingers cling to the bleached white rabbit skulls in the window, bright green eyes reflecting back at her in the hanging crystals over the little vanity. His warm touch curls amid the frayed, threadbare holes in the well-worn comforter upon his bed. 

Rose wraps herself in one of his cloaks, looking like a little kid in an oversized costume. She doesn't care; it _smells_ like him. Like herbs and spice; like the light melody of his rare laugh; like slivers of moonbeam as sharp as his cheekbones. 

She sits on the floor, swaddled tight, and tries to clear her mind.

She tries, with every non-magical fiber of her being, to reach out. Hoping. Beckoning. Willing him home. If he's out there, maybe she can guide him back. 

Because he can't be gone. 

She loves him too much for him to be gone.

* * *

Treat

Forty-seven days. Forty-seven red-wax candles burning in the windows. Fourth-seven days of sweeping up the stoop. Forty-seven bowls of stupid fucking milk. 

Rose forgoes sleeping in the guest room, wrapping herself up in Hux’s quilt and sleeping above the covers of his bed instead. 

His closet looks like a war zone. Rose isn’t sure if wearing all his stuff is in any way actually helping, or if it’s just her selfish desire to feel closer to him. At this point, she doesn’t care. 

On the afternoon of the forty-eighth day, she watches Millicent mope her way across the living room floor. The cat’s been even more petulant and miserable lately. She plops down in the middle of the floor and yowls pitifully. 

“Yeah,” Rose mutters over her hot cup of tea. “Me too.” She yawns, almost ready for a nap. Staying up for hours on end at night meditating has dramatically shifted her daily schedule. 

The warmth of the room is making her drowsy, too. She’s comfy and toasty in one of Hux’s knit sweaters and thick cloak over her leggings. 

Rose almost nods off, so she doesn’t hear the soft *pop* in the kitchen behind her. She does, however, start awake as someone careens into the mountain of unwashed pots and pans on the counter. 

“What the-!” Rose jumps up, chair clattering, whirling around just in time to see Hux stumble out into the breakfast nook. Her heart flips, stutters, jumps, all of it. She’s frozen in place as he straightens up and adjusts his clothes, looking at her as if he’s just returned from the store, not like he’s missing for over a month. He frowns at her slack-jawed look. 

“Rose?” His smooth accent honeying her name jolts her back to life. 

Her eyes well with tears. 

“You- you- You look fucking terrible!” Her voice pitches high in accusation. “What the fuck!”

To Rose’s credit, he is /a mess/. Clothes all torn, skin scuffed and grubby, hair greasy, a long angry scratch on his hairline near his temple. Hux’s wide eyes blink in bemusement, as if he has no idea. Instead, he notches his chin between two fingers. 

“Perhaps I have been gone longer than I originally th...” He cuts off as Rose stomps angrily towards him, his brows scrunching. “Wait, are you wearing my cl- oof” Rose barrels into his chest, knocking the wind out of him as she clutches him tight, anger breaking into sobs.

“I thought you were gone! I thought you were dead!” Her noisy tears only increase as she feels his arms circle around her and hold her back. 

“I’m sorry..” the smoke-soft sorrow in his voice only makes her cry harder. 

Eventually, she pulls back. 

“This-“ Her heart wrings “You’re really here, right? This isn’t some magic trick, is it?” 

His normally severe expression melts into a soft smile. “No tricks, Rose. I’m here. You brought me home.” 

Rose gapes at him. “I did?” she squeaks. 

Hux nods, pushing her hair back from her face and cupping her cheek in his warm palm. His eyes glitter with an emotion Rose doesn’t dare name when he says, “I heard you.”

Rose hiccups something between a laugh and a sob, bounding up into his arms. Hux bends, hoisting her by the waist. She gives little care to the state of his dirty clothes as she wraps her legs around his waist, cleaving to his body. 

A warm chuckle radiates from him as she presses their foreheads together, looking deep into his green-glass eyes. That look he’s giving her.. 

“Welcome home,” she whispers. 

His lashes flutter, gaze dropping to her mouth. “It’s good to be back,” he manages on a breath just as Rose leans in and kisses him. She thrills as he clutches her tight and kisses her back, all affection and passionate relief. 

They break with a breathless swoop of air. 

“What happened?” Rose mutters, touch flitting all over his face. 

“It’s a long story,” Hux replies, wincing as she accidentally brushes the cut on his brow.

Rose’s lips purse. “You can tell me all about it while I treat your wound, okay?”

His smile quirks. “You know, an incantation would mend it just as well.” 

“Yeah?” Rose scoffs, grinning like a fool. “How about we lay off the magic for a hot minute, huh?”

His low, rich laugh ghosts over her lips, moments from claiming another kiss. But Rose moves first, stealing his breath with the blissful soft press of her eager mouth. 

Hux surrenders to it, glad to be caught in her spell. 


	5. December & January 2020/21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This month's microfics are within the Wizard!AU setting, but not necessarily in a linear order.

Elf

The logs in the living room hearth crackled and danced with flame, throwing light onto the pair snuggled down together on the old, wine-colored couch.

“Can we decorate for Christmas tomorrow?”

Behind her, she heard Hux hum in thought, the hard line of his body tucked up against all her curves.

“You are aware Christmas is a made-up holiday.”

“So?” Rose huffed, wiggling her bottom under the blanket just to be a tease. “We did all your solstice stuff,” she pouted, “it’s only fair.”

“I suppose it would be,” he rumbled affectionately.

The hand draped over her waist flexed slightly to hold her tighter.

A few nights before, they’d had a big celebration out in the backyard, with a giant bonfire & everything.

“He must really like you,” Ben’s fey girlfriend Rey had told her, the two women filling their plates with food from the huge spread on the plastic folding table. Hux had enchanted candles to float above, their light reflecting on all the sparkly decorations and overflowing platters. Rose’s green bean casserole and Paige’s corn soufflé looked painfully human compared to all the weird and fantastic faerie offerings.

At the other woman’s words, Rose’s heart did a back-flip.

“Yeah?” She said, inspecting the overlarge, grilled mushroom caps. “Why do you say that?”

“It’s been forever since Hux hosted a solstice celebration,” Rey had whispered solemnly. “Not since his mother passed.”

Rose looked back over her shoulder. Hux and Ben seemed to be deep in conversation on the other side of the bonfire, probably arguing if she had to guess.

“Paige and I lived through losing our parents,” she’d said, "but at least we had each other. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for Hux.” Rose didn’t know much, only that his mom had been half-elf, and that her death had been really sudden.

“It was rough, but he’s changed a lot since you showed up,” Rey added, munching on a candied maple leaf drizzled with cinnamon honey. She gave Rose a warm smile. “Ben and I are happy he’s got you.” Her nose scrunched. “Now you’re part of our weird little family!”

Rose had grinned.

It *was* a weird little family. A few of Hux’s other acquaintances from the Order had shown up, that night too. Paige was chatting animatedly with a tall, blonde woman, broad-shouldered and pretty intimidating looking. Paige didn’t seem to be having a problem though. She seemed happy; healthy.

At the memory of that night, Rose felt a comforting warmth bloom in her chest, safe in the arms of the man who held her.

“We don’t have to have another party,” she said, turning slightly in Hux’s arms to look at him. “Maybe it can... just be us.”

Hux peered down at her, firelight making his hair blaze copper, the beginnings of a smile pulling at his lips.

“Anything you wish,” he said, bending to kiss her delicately on the nose.

* * *

Ice & Scarf

Reaching around her body, Hux covered Rose’s eyes with his hands. They stood together in the living room, facing the hearth. He’d promised they’d be ‘decorating’ that day.

“No peeking,” he reminded her, chest rumbling against her back.

“Okay,” she promised, breathless and grinning.

Her body thrummed with anticipation as the air around them changed; shifted.

Rose felt his magic build & swirl around them, starting at her toes and rising upward like warm, flickering firelight.

It wrapped around her like a soft winter scarf, holding her in its cherishing power. She shuddered at the thought of how destructive it could be, this magic, but how it yielded instead for her.

The wave of enchantment made the air around them sizzle in her ears, cresting high for a few moments before everything went quiet again.

Hux let out a sigh, as if he’d been concentrating very hard.

“Can I look now?” Rose asked, unable to hide her eagerness.

In answer, Hux took his hands away, and Rose gaped at the room around them before shrieking in delight.

“Hux! It’s- it's amazing!”

The entire room had been transformed, decorated in what Rose could only describe as a winter wonderland. A huge Christmas tree had appeared in the corner, glittering with light and draped in ribbons and acorns and ornaments.

Enchanted ice dripped from the mantle, winking like crystal and throwing sunlight in different directions. There were even boughs of holly and fir garlands strung up upon the wall, wreathing the room.

Rose took a deep breath, raking in the heady scent of pine and snow.

“This is... incredible,” she said, turning to the man standing behind her. “Thank you.”

Hux gave her a small smile, clearly delighted in her reaction.“You are most welcome, Rose.”

* * *

Gather

Kaydel planted her hands on her hips. They stood over what meager belongings of Rose's they'd gathered in the middle of the apartment's entryway.

"A live-in housekeeper, huh?"

Rose felt the back of her neck prickle in warning.

"Yup."

Hux had sworn her to secrecy.

Kaydel frowned.

"Well, is he going to come pick you up, or are you like, taking all your shit on the bus with you?"

"He, uh, I don't think he owns a car."

"Uh...huh. Well. That's encouraging....

And you're sure you want to do this? I can't imagine he's even *paying* you well."

Rose bit the inside of her cheek. She couldn't very well tell her best friend that it wasn't the money, necessarily.

'oh no, it's just, this guy is making a magic potion to help save Paige'

Connix would have her committed.

"It has its perks," Rose said flippantly, without thinking.

Kaydel's eyes went wide. "Is it... a sex thing?"

Rose gave a start. "No! It's just housework!"

* * *

Merry

"You don't have to come," Rose reminded her sister. "It's just a solstice party. If you don't feel well enoguh to-"

“And miss a weirdo magic thing?” Paige scoffed. “Not on your life! I’ve got to thank your boyfriend anyway for all that tea he’s been giving me. It tastes like ass, but I’ve been feeling loads better.”

Rose snorted into her cellphone.

“I guess there’s going to be few of his friends there, too.”

“He has friends?”

“Paige!”

Rose could nearly hear her sister's grin through the phone.

"I'm just teasing you, Ro-Ro," Paige said, warm emotion settling into her voice. "I'm glad he makes you happy."

Rose blushed furiously, even though her sister could not see her. She looked across the room at Hux, who was sitting on the cough reading.

"Thanks, Paige."

"Of course, Rose. I'm your sister. Now, what should I know? Am I supposed to say Merry Solstice or something?"

"I'm... I'm actually not sure."

"Well, better find out! I want to make sure I don't stick out like a sore thumb."

Rose laughed. "Good luck."

* * *

Lights

Rose put his hand under her shirt as they watched the local park's fireworks, multicolored lights playing over his look of surprise as he flexed his hand, maybe unconsciously, on the warm skin pressed out the top of her plunge bra.

* * *

Gift

Sometimes, Rose will lift the gift Hux gave her, the little acorn resting above her pendant, just to whisper "Thank you," so the woman with the soft-as-chimes laugh knows how grateful she is for him

* * *

Chocolate

"Here, try it." She pushed the cup into his hands, warm in the cold new years night.

"What is it?"

"Drinking chocolate."

Hux hummed, taking the ceramic mug.

"That," he said, after a sip, "is quite possibly the most delicious thing I have ever tasted."

Rose grinned, leaning over to steal a quick kiss, tasting the sweetness on his mouth.

"Ever?" She wiggled her eye brows suggestively

* * *

Joy

A year ago, Rose would have never believed what sort of twists and turns lay ahead. Hope, danger, joy. Love.

But she hadn't felt alone. At times, maybe, it felt like she were screaming into the void, but not anymore.

She watched the filtered sunlight from the window glint off Hux's hair, the splash of it on his pillow a stark contrast to the off-white linens.

Snuggling closer, staving off the chill of the bedroom, she nestled into his chest, his arms going around her almost unconsciously.

Nope, she thought, kissing the underside of his chin.

Not alone at all.


	6. Matchmaker, Matchmaker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short drabble/tweetfic.

“Would you stop your damn fidgeting?”

Rose glanced over at Poe, who snapped back to attention at Leia’s stern words.

“Sorry. I’m just,” Poe stretched his neck and cleared his throat. “I’m not so sure this is a good idea.”

“Oh hush,” Leia admonished, waving one ringed hand idly in the air, the other wrapped around the head of her cane. “Palpatine is dead. Agreeing to this treaty is a perfectly good idea.”

Poe gave a small start. “With the First Order? With him?!”

“He did save your life,” Rose muttered, watching the turbo-lift count up as the three ascended.

Poe shot her a dark look over Leia’s head, holding up a finger.

“Once! He saved our lives once!

Every other time he tried to kill us. Kill you!”

“If you two don’t stop bickering I’ll send both of you back to the ship,” the old General muttered, silencing the pair.

Rose screwed her mouth shut, even if she were dying to let off some nervous energy by giving Poe a bit of lip.

Still, she didn’t want to cross the General. They’d all been through quite a lot the past few days, but Leia especially; her son and Rey having disappeared after the final battle.

Palpatine was defeated, that was true, but the First Order remained even if it were half in ruin after Exegol and all the in-fighting. Brokering peace between the New Alliance and the recently self-appointed Grand Marshal was certainly prudent, but it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.

As the turbo-lift closed in on their destination, Rose sort of wished Leia would send her back to the ship. She wasn’t too thrilled at the idea of seeing General Hux again, even if he had been their spy.

He’d ferried intel over to her for months, with no idea it was the woman who’d bit him on the other end of the communique. He’d been their enemy, but keeping him in the dark still sorta felt like unfair deception.

Rose shifted her weight slightly, trying to quell her nerves.

Beside her, Leia could feel the jittery energy radiating off the young woman through the Force, similar but distinctly different than how her second-in-command was feeling. Poe was wary, itching for a fight; uneasy at the situation. Rose was all nervous anticipation.

Leia mentally patted herself on the back for bringing the young woman along.

Oh yes, she’d heard the stories. Heard all about how Rose had bitten the much-feared new leader of the First Order. She’d nearly choked on her tea from laughing so hard.

Now, Leia hoped seeing her again would throw off Hux’s game. Make him easier to read.

Just a friendly bit of psychological warfare, Leia thought, shooting Rose an enigmatic, tight-lipped smile as the lift came to a stop.

The doors parted with a pneumatic hiss revealing the austere meeting room beyond: dark table and chairs rimmed in silver.

Rather overly dramatic, the old General thought with a roll of her eyes, cane tapping against the durasteel floor as she stepped over the threshold.

“Ah, General,” came a smug, Imperial voice from across the room. “How good of you to come.”

Leia raised a bored eyebrow toward the other end of the long, sleek conference table.

Newly-minted Grand Marshal Hux stood at parade rest, flanked by his two most loyal officers.

He looked pale, haggard, no doubt the hangover that came with staging a coup.

She expected the man’s self-satisfied aura to ooze off him about as thick and as black as tar, but she was surprised to find his emotions under strict control, despite how easily he let his distaste play across his face.

Perhaps he’d learned a thing or two, having survived in her son’s shadow for so long.

“Wouldn’t be a good negotiator if I hadn't,” Leia shot back, pulling out one of the dreadfully uncomfortable-looking chairs with the end of her cane and plopping down to sit. Hux’s lip curled at her lack of decorum. Leia noticed the spike in ire, deciding to prod at it a bit further.

“You’ll pardon an old woman’s aching feet, won’t you?” she muttered, propping her legs up on an adjacent chair and sighing contentedly smacking her lips as she slumped back.

She watched intently as Hux sniffed in distaste, studying his muted emotions that bubbled occasionally to the surface before roiling under.

The man was as tightly wound as a timing belt.

Standing to her side, Poe was much less controlled when it came to his anger and mistrust, his emotions white-hot and roiling. Distaste emanated from the Grand Marshal as he gave the pilot a brief once-over, his cold eyes flashing in anger.

Well, Leia thought with no small amount of exasperation, that was going to pose a problem. She’d been counting on naming Poe her liaison between the New Alliance and the First Order. Cooperation to fix the crumbling galaxy would be a rather tough sell if the men wanted to murder each other.

And then Hux’s attention settled on Rose, and all his carefully buttoned-up control evaporated in an instant.

“What in the hell is she doing here?” he snarled, thrusting a gloved finger in Rose’s direction.

The young woman bristled.

“Hey! You better watch where you point that thing before it gets bitten off!”

Hux spluttered and gaped at her, expression contorting into incredulous ire.

“You- you-!”

Rose planted her hip, arms crossed. “Me what, exactly?”

Leia let out a low chuckle, scarcely believing her plan would work this well. Hux’s emotions were off the charts: annoyance, fury, embarrassment, and... something else.

Leia tried to get a grasp on the torrent rolling of them both.

Was it... intrigue?

Or... was that Rose?

The young engineer was obviously no fan of the Grand Marshal, but there was some undercurrent there.

Stars, Leia thought with startled wonder, watching the pair volley barbs back and forth. They were enjoying this.

Eventually, the old General cut in, clearing her throat.

“Rose," she said, as if it were her plan all along, "is my Ambassador to the First Order.”

The entire room fell silent.

Rose turned slowly toward her in open-mouthed shock.

“I’m... what?”

“Impossible” Hux barked, hands curled into fists, face flushed and looking quite like a petulance child. “That- that simply cannot work!”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Leia said, looking between the two and giving them both a slanted smile. “Seems to be working out well so far.”


	7. February 2021

Ribbon

He glances over the datapad in his hand, pretending to read the schematics they've given him when in reality he's watching her work.

He wonders if she even notices; how she holds her breath when she concentrates hard enough, or how her brows crease together when the component she's working on gives her a fair amount of trouble.

Rose sighs in frustration, trying to push the flyaway hair out of her face before she sits back, pulling out the ribbon that's held her messy bun in place so she can fix it all back together again. Hux watches in silence, wondering when she'd moved on from her penchant for employing spent electrical wiring like some sort of mad scientist.

He lingers too long; she must feel his gaze boring into the back of her head.

Rose turns, catching his eye, a question in her gaze; one Hux is neither ready nor willing to broach just yet. It's too soon. The sting of defeat and captivity still blooms too bright for him to let go of the hard feelings between them, even if other emotions begin to roil near the surface.

Uncomfortable at being caught, he gives her a sneer for good measure, returning to his work, but he can't bring himself to focus on any of the words. All he can feel is the tingling heat that's crept up his neck; her eyes on him.

He hopes Rose doesn't notice.

She does.

* * *

Swipe

Late afternoon winds buffet the side of the thick-canvas tent, kicking up sand. The rhythmic sound of snapping fabric settles into comfortable background noise, nearly making Rose miss the rustle of the tent flap behind her.

Instinctually, her hand jumps to the blaster on her hip as she swivels around from her workbench, but the tension drains out of her as a familiar figure ducks under the threshold, grains of sand clinging to their hooded cloak. 

"How was the market?" Rose asks,  trying to cover her sudden fright.

"Fruitful, although this weather is ghastly." Hux pulls back his hood, shaking his head. Although proper sleep and better nutrition over the last few months have filled out a few of his harsh angles, his severely styled hair hasn't changed.

"Why we must be relegated to this dismal planet is beyond me," he adds with a sneer. 

Rose pops up from her stool. "Because the probability of anyone recognizing you this far out is pretty low. So, did you get that node displacer?" 

Hux pulls out the part in question as Rose steps closer. His eyes track her movements into her personal space with quiet concentration even as she swipes the component from his grasp. Her eyes light up.

"Ah! It's in good condition, too! Thanks, Hux."

His gaze lingers on the pink, excited flush of her cheeks for perhaps a moment too long before he grumbles something indecipherable, pulling up his hood once more and ducking back outside. He still had to store the rest of their supplies in their makeshift shed.

"You're _welcome_!" Rose calls mockingly after him, her heart doing a little backflip at the unguarded, soft scrutiny he'd fixed her with. She's not sure if he even hears her, her voice all but swallowed up by the wind.

* * *

Meeting

Rose stokes the logs in the sunken cooking hearth one last time before shimmying into her sleeping roll. Smoke columns up, disappearing out the smoke-hole at the top of the woolly tent cloth, filling the overlarge, room-sized space with radiant warmth. Despite the heat of the desert day, the nights have been chillingly cold. Rose should be used to it, coming from Hays, but she thinks she’s been spoiled for so long back on Ajan Kloss that her body's adapted. he thought pangs a deep sadness in the pit of her stomach; some kind of loss.

She huffs a frustrated sigh, turning over to get comfortable. On the other side of the fire, Hux is silent. So silent, Rose thinks he might already be asleep. But when she turns over, trying to find a position that doesn’t jab at her hip bone, he’s staring silently at the canopy of the tent. He’s flat on his back, unmoving, like a corpse, but Rose knows he’s awake. She can see the firelight glinting off his lashes when he blinks.

Sometimes, in the quiet moments like this, when they aren’t bickering or running for their lives, the enormity of what’s happened really gets to her. When Rose complained about being sidelined from all the action, she hadn’t envisioned *this* being the alternative.

Keeping Hux alive; hidden. One step ahead of the army that’s turned on him. At least on this planet, so far from the fighting, she thinks they’ll be able to stay a bit longer before having to move on again. Maybe next, they can go somewhere cold.

Hux must feel her watching him; he turns his head slightly to look at her through the flames with a raised eyebrow. The fire does odd things to his eyes, Rose thinks. Usually such a pale green-gray, in the flickering orange and white they seem almost colorless. Rose brings the hem of her blanket up under her chin.

“Can’t sleep,” she mumbles, feeling like he’s caught her doing something she shouldn’t.

His mouth drops into a slanted frown before he breathes heavily out his nose, going back to staring at the ceiling.

“Then we are both in similar circumstances tonight, Tico.”

Rose wiggles her toes in her socks. “Do you think the meeting tomorrow will go alright?”

Leia’s sent word of a contact they’re supposed to rendezvous with the next morning. Someone who can give them forged landing credentials and galactic IDs. For the plan to work, they’re going to have to head back to the Core worlds eventually. To her surprise, Hux chuckles slightly. The sound makes a shiver run down her spine, but not necessarily in a bad way.

“You must be quite nervous if you’re asking /my/ opinion,” he says.

Rose puffs up her cheeks in a pout.

“Of course I’m asking your opinion. We have to work together. We’re allies in this.”

“Oh, quite,” he returns with tired mocking. His loose ginger hair splashes against the dark fabric of his bedding as he turns on his side to look at her. “You keep all your allies at blaster point, do you?”

Rose presses her lips together.

“I haven’t done that in a long time and you know it.”

He snorts.

She can’t tell if he’s actually annoyed with her or just teasing in his odd, biting way. The line with him is rather blurry. Hux says nothing more about the subject, only watches her, eyes narrowed in her direction. Rose yawns, the firelight playing tricks between them. She’s not sure how long they lay like that, silent, but somewhere along the way, she finally falls asleep.

* * *

Bar

Hux spots her from across the hangar, just as she tries to slip away from the platoon she's been blending in with. She is instantly recognizable, her face having followed him like a shadow for so long now; he knows exactly who she is.

Mixed with the heart-pounding rage that flairs within as he recognizes her is no small measure of awe. The gall she has. It seems as if near execution itself has not barred her from infiltrating his ship once again. Fearless. It's almost admirable.

Beside him,Ren and Pryde rattle on, but their voices drain away into a background drone as Hux watches the Resistance mole begin to steal away.

His hand curls into a fist, stinging from the memory of her mouth.

In that one tenuous moment, from across the hangar, from across the chasm that no doubt separates all that they are, their eyes meet. She freezes. To her credit, her expression remains firm, but Hux knows the fear that must be coursing through her. He's felt such fear before. One word, one raised hand, one order, and she'd be caught. Dead. Her fate, her secret, is his.

And yet... he cannot bring himself to speak; to move.

She has pinned him to the spot with her determined, defiant gaze, just as he has no doubt frozen her.

The silent standoff between them goes unnoticed by the others for a long moment. Eventually, she moves; tests him.

She takes a step away towards the corridor that will no doubt lead her off his ship with her life intact.

Hux makes no move. Can't? Won't? He is not sure. Perhaps he simply wants to see what she'll do next. Perhaps that is the game that exists between them now.

She looks at him then as if in question, and he tilts his chin down, eyes narrowing sharp. If she means to go, she must go now.

Rose takes the hint, heart strangling in her throat, and turns for the exit.

Throwing one last look in the General's direction, she slips away.

* * *

Cupid

When Poe informs her that the bases' solar array has suddenly gone offline, a creeping, curious feeling starts walking down Rose's spine.

"I'll... go reset it manually," she tells him, frowning, trying to work out just what might have caused the error.

The array is close enough to base that she can still hear all the hoopla behind her when she rounds the corner, so absorbed in looking over the paneling for any sign of damage that she doesn't see the glove that snaps out to wrap around her wrist.

A commanding grip yanks her back into the shadows. Rose lets out a choked little yelp as she collides with something tall and solid and warm against the back wall of the base. Looking up slack-jawed into Hux's smirking face, she splutters.

"What- what the /hell/ are you doing here?" She whisper-hisses, glancing wildly over her shoulder as if someone, at any moment, could discover them. "Are you *absolutely* crazy?!"

He cocks his head, lips quirking up, accentuating that delectable little cupids bow of his mouth. Rose can't decide if she wants to bite it or smack it off him.

"Our channel has been compromised," he says matter-of-factly. "I had to deliver the latest drop in person."

"Is that so?" Or... maybe he just wanted to see her again. The thought thrills through her, zipping down. Rose presses her thighs together.

"You can't stay," she says, even as her eyes flutter closed, feeling the buttery leather of his glove pushing her hair behind her ear, trailing down to cuff against her neck. Her heart trembles. "They'll kill you if you're caught."

Hux's cocky expression slides towards serious as he bends forwards, that mouth of his hovering only a breath away from Rose's lips.

"Well then," he murmurs, eyes bright and sharp like grey skies over an ocean storm, "we best be quick."

Rose throws caution to the wind, melting into his embrace as he captures her mouth in a kiss.

* * *

Lace

Find this microfic, which has been expanded into a oneshot, here: <https://archiveofourown.org/works/29446245>

* * *

Affection

"Oiy... I know you." The First Order Captain leaned closer, squinting, twisting his grip around her wrist. Rose was frozen, ice flooding through her veins, the noise of the party muting into a distant pulsing beat.

"You're that rebel girl," the man said, as if he could scarcely believe it. Like she'd just materialized out of a wanted holo. "The one that bit the General. Aren't you?"

Rose shook her head, but it felt as if she were moving through heavy water. She tried to pull away, yet was held fast. Before she could summon the strength and wherewithal to lie, someone slid up alongside her.

"How utterly preposterous..." a smooth, cold voice trickled down her spine. The Captain looked horrified and dropped his grip as General Hux slid his arm around her waist, pulling her body against his in an overt sign of affection. His fingers flexed possessively around her hip.

"This lovely creature is certainly not a rebel," he continued, giving the man a haughty look. "And if she ever did deign to bite me, I can assure you it would be at my invitation. Do I make myself clear, Captain?"

Fear and some unknown thrill coalesced so suddenly within her, Rose had to lean on Hux to keep standing.

"Right." The Captain snapped to attention, saluting. "Yes sir. Very sorry, sir."

He gave Rose a wide-eyed look of fear before he shuffled off. As the man retreated, a shakey sigh wound out of Rose, even as Hux turned his head toward her.

"Causing trouble, Miss Tico?" he muttered, lips pressed against her ear in a mimic of something intimate. "I said... to keep a /low/ profile." His breath tickled, making her shiver, his words rattling around in her head.

_at my invitation_

"Tico?"

"Ah, yeah," her chest heaved with a breath... the bodice of her dress pressing up against the hard line of his side. "Yeah, sorry." She glanced at him, quickly looking away, catching the quick flick of his smirking smile just out of the corner of her eye.

* * *

Card

When Rose walked up the Falcon's ramp, coming around the hallway, it felt as if the temperature dipped about ten degrees; something in her subconscious going on high alert. She was sure it was her imagination, but as a pair of cold, slate-green eyes turned towards her, she felt a shiver run down her spine.

The boys had chained their reluctant savior by the wrists to the struts under the couch in the Falcon's cabin. The position made Hux lean forward, hunch his back slightly, but he still exuded a palpable danger that settled over Rose like a heavy funeral shroud.

In the flat disgust glittering in his gaze and in the displeased, downward slash of his mouth, she could very nearly see all the death this man had wrought.

"Come to exact your revenge, I suppose."

She's almost startled by his voice.

Rose swallowed, shoring up her strength, planting her hands on her hips. "Sorry to disappoint you, General. A quick death's not in the cards for you."

His mouth turned up at that... and Rose felt her stomach lurch. The ways his eyes followed her, like a snake calculating the path of its prey...

She shouldn't feel so intrigued. So drawn. Rose knew all too well what this man was capable of; as deadly as the knife the boys had taken off him. Why then, did she have the overwhelming urge to close her hand around the blade?

"So, no firing squad today, hm? Should I say 'thank you'?"

"I'd rather you didn't say anything at all."

"Oh," his voice sighed soft, "come now, little rebel. Where's the fun in that?"

* * *

Craving

"I don't believe the purpose of this little charade of yours was to steal into my chambers any time you please," Hux manages, once the initial surprise wears off.

Rose, in her stolen Major's teal, throws him a look over her shoulder. where she stands, staring out of the port-side viewing window of his quarters.

"Your room is nicer," she quips, casually, like she hasn't just broken into his most private space. She pivots around again, giving him her back. "Anyway, I wanted to use your fresher."

Hux frowns. "That was not part of the arrangement."

"It is now."

A muscle in his jaw strains. Stars, she tries his patience.

"Foolish of you to test me, I should think," he snaps, "seeing as I could report you for the fraud you are."

"Yeah?" Rose turns, daring to lean her shoulders back against the transparasteel wall whilst crossing her arms. The pose thrusts her chest out; taunting.

"Just like I could tell them you're the spy, huh?"

The silent standoff between them drags on for a long moment. One in which Hux thinks he can hear the roar of his blood pressure in his ears. Defiance glares back at him; all raised chin and set jaw. Her eyes burn.

Hux huffs, pulling off his gloves and dropping them to the coffee table with a soft pat-pat, hoping the sooner she is finished taunting him the sooner she will leave. He does not miss, however, the way her eyes watch the motions of his hands; the flash of his wrist nor the fall of the leather.

Curious.

When she meets his gaze again, he sees there something he does not quite expect. Mistrust, to be sure. Hatred, perhaps. But also- well, he's felt it enough times to know what it looks like: Hunger. Craving. Only, usually, he feels such in relation to his want for power; control. He's quite certain no one has ever looked at /him/ like that.

Hux lowers his chin slightly, eyes narrowing.

"What is it you said you came here for?"

Heat flares on the woman's cheeks.

"Your fresher," she says, after a moment's awkward pause.

A ginger brow flicks up. "Is that so?"

"Mm," Rose hums, glancing away, not moving from her position against the glass. The swell of her chest rises and falls with a heavy, pent-up huff.

Careful, so as not to startle her, he moves toward the austere drink cart, sliding out two glasses with long, nimble fingers. He can feel her gaze on him; hot.

"Well then," he says, sternly ignoring the way his words have gone mostly to breath, "best get on with it." He turns towards her, lips quirking up to one side. "It's not like we've got all night."

Rose holds his gaze, and he can very nearly see the gears turning in that pretty little head of hers. Finally, her shoulders drop, as do her arms, as she steps away from the window towards him.

* * *

Match

Poe pulled off the headset, setting it down between them.

"Well... that's... something."

Rose nodded emphatically. "See? I told you. Weird, huh?"

The feeling building inside her- she wasn't sure if it was excitement or dread. "

It just- it can't be him, Rose," Poe tried, sounding more like he was attempting to convince himself more than anything, "He's dead."

Rose slid forward in her chair, pointing at the audio files on the screen.

"I thought so too, but I cross-checked the vocal output of the transmission to the recording of his holo-speeches. It's an exact match."

She was practically vibrating now, watching her friend and comrade come to the exact same conclusion she'd arrived at the previous evening.

"But that means..." "That General Hux is alive," Rose finished for him. Something like hope swelled in her chest, bright and burning and maybe even a little bit foolish. She took a steadying breath. "And I'm going to find him."

* * *

Ring

"Tell me you love me."

Hux smirks down at the woman lounging in his lap, draped over his thighs and the arms of his seat.

"Demanding little thing today, are we not?" he teases, tipping her chin even further back with a gloved finger, exposing the column of her throat under the high-necked uniform collar.

Rose lets him do it, slow-winding her hips against the fabric of his jodhpurs before she moves, lightning-fast, to snap her jaws at his finger.

Hux pulls away just in time, brow quirking at the impish... look in her eyes. He's already been scarred once with a ring of her teeth marks, but Rose has the distinct knack for lowering his defenses.

"Of course I love you, my sweet," he says, moving instead to massage the swell of her cheek with his thumb.

She leans into... his touch like a cat, just as the doors to the throne room open. The guards escort in two disheveled-looked captives.

Rose stirs, promptly sitting up, watching the two rebels with rapt, predatory interest.

Hux pushes the sharply-cut line of hair away from her face, lips against her ear.

"If you're a good girl," he murmurs softly, so only she can hear him, "I'll let you play with them."

He can feel a purring growl growing in Rose's throat, the noise jolting down into his groin. His beautiful murderess. There is no doubt, his love for her is indisputable. Ruinous, even. He studies the beautiful profile of her face.

She'd kill for him with just a word, and he would die for her without question.

* * *

Fate

Hux swallows tight around the cold fingers encircling his throat, blue and muted neon of the city casting eerie shadows down upon the warehouse's stone floor.

A deceptively sweet giggle sounds in his ear, warm breath blooming against his cheek.

"Wouldn't you like to know why I haven't killed you yet, Hux?" He can feel the sharp prickle of a fang against his ear, her mouth is that close as she speaks

He grunts, slightly choked.

"I'd rather not, but I have the distinct feeling you'll be telling me anyway."

The vampire's cold skin brushes against his as she nuzzles him; cruel affection.

"You're way more fun than the others," she titters, alluding to those of his Order she's already killed. "They're always so boring. But not you. It's almost like we were meant to find each other, don't you think? Like fate."

"Rubbish," he manages, breath hitching as he feels the cold fingers of her free hand slither down his chest.

"Oh, don't be like that," she purrs, touch dancing menacingly at his belt buckle. "There's no need to be so cruel," she adds, lips ghosting behind his ear.

"Rose-"

She mouths his neck and his heart bucks: fear and arousal. He knows she can hear his ragged pulse. Delights in it.

Rose smiles, lips pulled back over her sharp teeth, and for a terrifying, exhilarating moment he thinks she might bite him. And, humiliatingly, he wants her to. Just to feel her sink down inside...

She pecks a kiss instead.

"Until next time, Armitage."

And then she's gone, and Hux is left alone in the silent warehouse, wretchedly hard in his trousers and sticky all over with sweat.

His legs wobble as he slides to his knees, chest hollow with the realization that she almost turned him.

And that he almost let her. 

* * *

Beginning

Hux fell heavily onto his couch, body aching, ears ringing, head swimming.

His muscles burned, body protesting after a fight he definitely hadn't expected to win.

He was sure Kylo was going to kill him.

But he just couldn't get the image of Rose out of his head.

Battered. Wounded. Shrinking away from Ren's massive bulk.

It was Hux's own fault. He should have killed her a long time ago, back when he'd been ordered to. It was his own weakness that had resulted in Ren being dispatched to clean up his mess.

But he couldn't let him stake her.

Why?

Maybe he'd become dependent on this little game of theirs; the cat and mouse. Maybe her sly, confident smile and nightshade eyes were the only things he had to hold on to anymore.

She was a monster. But then, so was he. Just a human one.

Shit. He'd really fucked up now. Ren witnessing his betrayal meant the whole Order knew. Eventually, they'd come for him.

A flurry of noise pierced the swirling fog clouding his brain, and before he could react, an iron vice closed around his hips.

Hux's eyes snapped open, a choked noise of distress dying in his throat as he saw what- or who- had him pinned.

"Rose," he croaked.

Her hands gripped his shoulders and slammed him back into the couch and the wall it sat against.

It rattled him as she snarled in his face, the dim light of his apartment flashing off her sharp teeth.

Her hair was still disheveled from the fight, face and body sporting wounds that could not bleed. Her shirt was torn.

“What the hell, motherfucker,” she said, shaking him. His head lolled. “Who the fuck do you think you are? I don’t *need* you to save me, slayer.” She spat his title like a curse.

Well, former title now...

Hux looked into her wild eyes, as dark and as deep as death.

“I-”

“I-”

“You don’t get to keep me alive, asshole,” she growled, her legs trapping his with otherworldly strength as she pitched her body up and her face into his. “Not after you’ve tried to kill me and mine so many god damn times now!”

“I know,” he said, breathless, unmoored in the wake of her anguish. “I know-”

“No, you /don’t/ know!” Her shake becomes a little more desperate, her voice pitched a bit higher into a whine. “That slayer almost killed you! You have no idea how many people I- I’ve-”

He watched as her face scrunched up with very human emotion, her eyes shining.

A longing to comfort bloomed in his chest. Damn his fondness for her.

With a hint of wonder, Hux reached up to thumb away a tear rolling down her pale cheek.

He never thought vamps could cry...

She batted his hand away, but only enough so as to close the gap and kiss him, all predatory heat despite the corpse-like coldness of her skin.

Shock raced through him as he tensed under her unrelenting hold, but he was trapped.

And he just didn’t have the strength, or the desire, to fight her.

Far from it, the way she preyed upon his mouth was sinfully wonderful, her lips like cool silk against his own.

All his craven, dark fantasies come to life.

Stars, he wanted her.

She pushed her tongue into his mouth and he opened for her, shivering as her body pressed against his own. Rose wasn’t warm, but that didn’t stop the grind of her body in his lap from being terribly arousing.

He grabbed hold of her ruined shirt, unsure if he wanted to pull her closer or push her away. Neither, apparently. She was impossible to budge & seemed content in having him exactly the way she wanted.

It was when he responded in kind, beginning to kiss her back in earnest, that his tongue slid over one sharply pointed fang.

Hux froze, suddenly feeling much more sober and awake.

He was kissing, pressing intimately up against, a vampire. A sworn enemy.

She must have heard his heart flailing because Rose latched onto his shoulders tighter.

She did, however, pull back from his mouth, her parted lips shining and framing her fangs, tongue peeking out.

Hux’s breath came ragged, unable to stop a groan as she circled her hips deliberately.

“Don’t be mad.”

He only barely caught her whisper before her hands held him fast, her face ducking against him.

Two sharp, needle-like pinpricks sunk into the flesh of his neck as Rose's cool lips closed around the wound.

The moan still reverberating in the back of his throat drew into a low-snarling, wounded noise.

“Shh, shh,” Rose hushed, voice slightly muffled with her teeth in his flesh. “I’m not going to turn you, Hux. I need- I just need it. Gods, I need /you/. I won’t let this be the end.”

No, Hux thought, terror coalescing as a strange feeling of pleasure flooded from her mouth into his veins.

No, this wasn’t the end at all.

It was only the beginning.


End file.
